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RIGHTING THE 
PEOPLE'S WRONGS 

A Lesson from History for Our Own Times 



/ 
By 

BO: FLOWER 



.^ .-^ 



Author of "The Century After Thomas 
Moore," "Gerald Massey," "Whether 
Prophet, Seer and Man," "Civil- 
ization's Inferno," "The New 
Tune," "Persons, Places 
and Ideas" 






CINCINNATI 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Copyright, 1917 
The Standard Publishing Company 






JUN 30 191? 

©GU4R7T65 



l\ 



PREFACE 

HISTORY and experience are the two 
master teachers of nations and civil- 
ization. The Magna Charta, wrested 
from the tyrant John of England, became a 
priceless heritage to be cherished and defended 
by all lovers of popular rights and the higher 
interests of civilization. The papal decree of 
Innocent III., declaring this vital instrument to 
be "null and void," and his excommunications 
of the barons who had secured it for the nations, 
failed in their purpose; for the people instinc- 
tively felt that here was something to be 
guarded as a priceless treasure, regardless of 
the wishes of a tyrannical sovereign or the Bull 
and condemnations by the head of a despotic 
monarchial hierarchy. 

It was the fundamental rights asserted in 
this epoch-marking charter and their legitimate 
implications that were the guiding principles and 
the inspiration of Elliott, Pym and Hampden, 
when they led the mighty struggle against the 



Preface 

growing despotism of Charles I., a struggle 
which culminated in the overthrow and execu- 
tion of the perfidious monarch. 

Later it was the broadened horizon and the 
more cosmic and nobler idealism which came as 
the inevitable result of this great conflict which 
inspired in a great degree the liberal philosophy 
of government which flowered in succeeding 
years in England and France and prepared the 
way for our great revolution and the birth of 
Modern Democracy. 

History not only shows how the great vic- 
tories of progress and advancing civilization 
have in one age proved the inspiration and 
guidance for the prophets and apostles of liberty 
and human rights in succeeding epochs, but by 
her torch we are able to trace the causes of de- 
cline and death in nations and civilizations. 
Next to experience, her lessons are most im- 
portant to the statesman, philosopher, and all 
other thought-molders in every crisis of national 
hfe. 

It is with this thought in mind that the fol- 
lowing historical survey of the first ten years of 
Queen Victoria's reign has been prepared; for 
during these critical years in England's history 
we find prevailing conditions in many notable 



^ 



Preface 

ways strikingly similar to those with which the 
friends of fundamental democracy have to con- 
tend in the present life-and-death struggle being 
waged between the patriotic upholders of our 
Federal Constitution and free institutions on the 
one hand, and the representatives of class rule 
and old world monarchial and hierarchial des- 
potism on the other. 

Few people in our age of feverish haste 
dream of the impending danger which already 
casts sinister shadows over this republic from 
two mighty influences which have, during the 
past fifty years, been steadily undermining our 
liberal democracy in the interest of monarchial 
and class-rule ideals of government: (1) The 
feudalism of privileged wealth, often called an 
invisible government of organized greed, and 
(2) the supreme and overshadowing menace of 
the monarchial and democracy-destroying upas- 
like Roman hierarchy, which is in effect a gov- 
ernment within our Government, whose theory 
of rule is in direct opposition to vital and fun- 
damental principles of our liberal democracy. 

Twenty-five years ago the feudalism of 
privileged wealth was seemingly the gravest out- 
side menace to fundamental democracy, but 
owing to the awakening of the people by the 



Preface 

apostles of direct legislation and other basic 
democratic measures, the initiative, referendum 
and recall have been established in a large num- 
ber of commonwealths; while woman suffrage 
and other movements favorable to the restora- 
tion and preservation of free institutions and 
popular sovereignty have also made rapid 
strides, until this peril is far less grave to-day 
than its sister reactionary influence, politico- 
ecclesiastical Romanism. The advance of the 
latter has been startlingly rapid, and its success 
in chloroforming Protestant democracy has 
been almost as marked as has been its victorious 
advance in establishing a papal index and a 
nation-wide boycott. Indeed, history records 
few, if any, parallels where an enemy within a 
government has been able to make such rapid 
headway as has the Roman hierarchy during the 
past quarter of a century in its systematic, de- 
termined eflforts to substitute the papal for the 
democratic theory of government, as it relates 
to such fundamental and vital provisions as 
freedom of speech, press and assembly; divorce 
of church and state; popular non-sectarian edu- 
cation, and the substitution of bureaucratic 
methods for the orderly procedure of trial by 
jury. 



Preface 

The founders and master builders of this 
great nation entered upon a bold experiment. 
With superb confidence in human nature and 
evincing a daring that struck terror to thrones, 
hierarchies, aristocracies, and, indeed, all forms 
of class rule, they threw the gauntlet in the face 
of all privilege-arrogating governments and 
hierarchies which sought to despotically or auto- 
cratically rule over the people. 

These courageous innovators held that the old 
order must be reversed ; that henceforth the peo- 
ple must be recognized as the sovereign power 
of government; that they were of right the 
ruling power, and officials — under the new 
order — must he the servants instead of the mas- 
ters of the citizens. 

This revolutionary forward step cut the very 
ground from under the presumptuous and time- 
honored claims of kings, aristocracies and hier- 
archies who of necessity held tenaciously to the, 
to them, pleasing fiction that the ruler, or ruling 
class, was of right the master and the people 
merely the subjects. 

The Declaration of Independence, drawn up 
by Thomas Jefferson — one of the most far- 
seeing and broad-visioned statesmen of any age 
or land — was a trumpet-call to earth's millions. 

1 



Preface 

It was THE PEOPLE'S GREAT CHARTER, 
which ushered in modern democracy, marking 
the epoch of freedom in the march of centuries. 
The Federal Constitution provided in a concrete 
way for the practical workings of this new 
form of government based on popular sover- 
eignty, the aim of which was liberty, justice and 
fraternity. 

The Revolutionary fathers knew that this 
new governmental order would be assailed by 
every form of despotism, and that the treble bul- 
wark of oppression had ever been popular igno- 
rance, religious intolerance, and the suppression 
of liberty of speech and press. Hence, they 
determined to so safeguard these wellsprings of 
Modern Democracy that the ideals of the Dec- 
laration of Independence could be preserved 
from the open assaults and insidious wiles of 
thrones, aristocracies and hierarchies of the old 
world, and to this end they demanded: (1) 
Freedom of thought, speech and assembly, (2) 
Absolute divorce of church and state, and (3) 
Popular non-sectarian education, or free schools 
in zvhich no creedal or dogmatic theology could 
be taught. 

The Federal Constitution expressly declares 
that : 



Preface 

"Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment 
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging 
the freedom of speech or of press, or the right of the people to 
peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress 
of grievances." 

Later, in resolutions drafted by Jefferson in 
reference to the Alien and Sedition Laws, the 
author of the Declaration of Independence, 
after citing the above Constitutional provision, 
pointed out that the framers of the Constitution 
thus guarded "in the same sentence and under the 
same words, the freedom of religion, of speech 
and of press, insomuch as whatever violates 
either throws down the sanctuary which covers 
the other." 

The one thing which history and experience 
alike teach is that a free people, wishing to re- 
main free, must above all else guard these great 
fundamental principles and bulwarks of liberal 
democracy ; and yet, though we have had the old 
truism, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," 
drilled into our ears from infancy, we, as a 
people, have permitted the sirens of old world 
Jesuitism to lull us to sleep while the age-long, 
powerful and perfectly organized foe of liberal 
democracy has gained a strangle-hold on nation, 
state and city. 

It is impossible in this brief introduction to 

9 



Preface 

even outline the issues involved in this mighty 
present-day struggle between modern liberal 
democracy and politico-ecclesiastical Romanism. 
Happily there is no need for this, as the vital 
facts and their grave implications are being 
splendidly set forth in the rapidly growing 
scholarly literature of the present great awak- 
ening.* 

Our aim in the following pages is to show 
thinking men and women the way out through 
practical and democratic methods, by giving a 
highly suggestive and inspiring citation from 
the history of England during the last century, 
when a definite program was intelligently, stead- 
fastly and determinedly pushed to victory at a 
time and under circumstances when victory 
without a revolution of force seemed well-nigh 
impossible. 

True, in England the overshadowing issue 

* Persons interested in the New Reformation movement should read 
"The Patriot's Manual," published by the Free Press Defense League; 
"Constitution or Pope?" by Judge Gilbert O. Nations; "Center-shots at 
Rome," by Geo. P. Rutledge, editor of the Christian Standard; "Christi- 
anity's Greatest Peril," by Augustus Conrad Ekholm; "Footprints of the 
Jesuits," by R. W. Thompson, ex-Secretary of the Navy; "Letters to His 
Holiness Pope Pius X.," by Dr. Wm. Sullivan, a former professor of the 
PauHst House of Studies; "Roman Catholicism Analyzed," by J. A. Phillips; 
"Uncle Sam or the Pope, Which?" by L. L. Pickett; "The Roman Catholic 
Hierarchy," by Thomas E. Watson; "Key-note Speech of the New Refor- 
mation," by J. I. Sheppard; "The Trail of Treason;" "Papal Prisons in 
Free America;" "The Religious Prejudice Panic;" and other vital discus- 
sions of the overshadowing menace of Romanism to free institutions. 

10 



Preface 

was economic, while with us the question has to 
do with the very life of free institutions and our 
liberal democracy; but the methods and wiles o£ 
intrenched reactionary power with which the 
friends of justice and the larger life of the peo- 
ple had to contend in the earlier day are so 
startlingly similar to those employed by the 
Roman Catholic political machine in our midst 
to-day as to emphasize anew the truism that 
"History is ever repeating itself." Then, as 
now, we find the "anti-democratic censorship of 
the press being exerted to prevent full and free 
discussion; then, as now, we see the votaries of 
privilege resorting to criminal lawlessness to 
prevent freedom of speech and being not un fre- 
quently aided by subservient officialism. In the 
early days of this great crusade, it will be noted, 
the same inertia of ignorance on every hand pre- 
vailed, as prevails to-day in our land among the 
Protestant millions; and finally, in the triumph- 
ant victory of the great cause that six years 
earlier was considered a "forlorn hope," will be 
seen something that should inspire, strengthen 
and stimulate every true patriot. 

In the early days of the Anti-Corn-Law 
movement only men like Cobden and Bright, 
who knew that their cause was just, and who be- 



Preface 

lieved most profoundly that one with God is a 
majority, imagined that a peaceful revolution 
could be wrought by the small band who fought 
for justice. But these men were great enough 
to consecrate life's every gift to the Cause, and, 
with invincible faith and courage that knew no 
faltering, they achieved in less than ten years 
the greatest politico-economic victory of the 
last century. 

This story of "How England Averted a 
Revolution of Force" is as pregnant as a zvay- 
shozver as it is inspiring to all who are noble and 
great enough to make the necessary sacrifices 
for vital freedom and human progress. 

What Richard Cobden, John Bright, Thomas 
Carlyle, Charles Mackay, Gerald Massey and 
Guiseppe Mazzini did, we also can do in the far 
graver and more momentous struggle that con- 
fronts us, providing we, too, are great enough 
and true enough to consecrate life's richest gifts 
to the noblest of all governmental causes. The 
first thing demanded is to awaken the sleeping 
millions and vitalize them with that living faith 
which makes a Gideon's band more irresistible 
than the hosts of Midian; that faith which is 
behind the vision without which nations and 
civilisations perish. Indiffercntism, or deadly 

12 



Preface 

inertia — the fruit of a systematic Roman Cath- 
olic Jesuitical campaign which has been waged 
for over forty years — must he broken up. We 
must demand and compel full and free discus- 
sion of every vital politico-religious question of 
the hour. 

This, Rome dreads as did the reactionary, 
privilege-enjoying class of Great Britain dread 
a free discussion of the Corn Laws, but it is 
only by restoring to the people through press 
and forum the fundamental rights guaranteed 
by liberal democracy, freedom of speech, press 
and assembly, that our free institutions can be 
preserved. On the other hand, it is only by 
censorship, boycott, and the insidious warfare 
for the suppression of full and free discussion 
that Rome can triumph. 

Our duty is to fearlessly follow the example 
of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and the Revolu- 
tionary fathers of the elder day and that of 
Cobden, Bright, and the heroes (of the forties) 
in England during the last century. 

We must organize, agitate and educate; we 
must make the people see that the issue in a nut- 
shell is America or Rome. Popular sovereignty, 
as voiced in our liberal democracy — or papal 
autocracy. 

13 



Preface 

We must unite and support at the polls, and 
everywhere else, only those who own and show 
their first allegiance to our Federal Constitution, 
and such bulwarks of free institutions as our 
non-sectarian public schools. We must imitate 
the heroes of the Anti-Corn-Law days. We 
will then be able to meet Rome's deadly assault 
on our fundamental democracy in such a way as 
to preserve for our children, and for generations 
yet unborn, those priceless gifts of our organic 
law: freedom of speech, press and assembly, 
and the absolute divorce of church and state, 
as well as popular non-sectarian education — the 
glory-lighted trinity of liberal democracy against 
which the subjects of papal sovereignty are 
waging a deadly warfare. 



14 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface, 5 

Introduction. 

importance and timeliness of the subject. 

Birth of English Democracy — The Monarchical Form clothing 
a Republican Spirit — Two Typical Revolutions — Transi- 
tion-period between the Old England and the New — 
Difficulties to be Met — Social Discontent, .... 19 

Chapter I. 

SOME LEADING CAUSES OF THE POPULAR UNREST. 

The American Republic — Effect of the French Revolution — 
Passage from Absolute to Constitutional Monarchy — 
Spirit of the Age — Physical Science — Philosophical and 
Religious Thought — The Oxford Movement — "No 
Popery" — Disappointment at Results of Reform Bill — 
Lord Durham — The New Poor Law — Machinery — Con- 
dition of the Poor — <<The Cry of the People," ... 23 

Chapter IL 

origin, progress, and result of chartism. 

Estimate of Movement — Reform Bill of i 831 — Middle Classes 
demand Representation — Reform Necessary — Difficulties 
in the Way — Votes on Bill — Passage of Bill — Result of 
Bill — Reaction — Rise of Chartism — Its Demands — Its 
Spread — Conservatism of the Masses — The Reformer — 
Leaders of Movement — Unwise Advocates — How Chartism 
IS 



Contents 

might have Succeeded — Indifference of Government — 
Opposition and Riots — A New Influence, 43 

Chapter III. 

HISTORY OF THE CORN LAWS. 

Com Laws after Norman Conquest — Statute of 1436 — Statute 
of 1463 — Legislation of 1660— 1670 — Corn Laws under 
William and Mary — Burke's Act (1773) — Statute of 
1791 — Enactments from 1791 to 1846 — Repeal of Corn 
Laws becomes Question of the Hour, 68 

Chapter IV. 

THE anti-corn-law LEAGUE. 

What it Accomplished — Its Opponents — Later a Class-move- 
ment — Purity of Leaders — Story of the Movement — 
Richard Cobden — John Bright — Dark Days and Cobden's 
Faith, 78 

Chapter V. 

humanitarian spirit in literature of period AND 

some thinkers who wrought for progress. 

Political Influences not Alone at Work — A Wave of Human 
Sympathy — Bulwer's "King Arthur" — Ebenezer Elliott 

— Carlyle — Dickens — Elizabeth Barrett — Hood — Mackay 

— Massey — Maurice — Charles Kingsley — Mazzini — 
Youth a Nation's Hope, 103 

Chapter VI. 

"CARRYING THE WAR INTO AFRICA." 

Disappointment in Melbourne Ministry — Mr. Wood of Man- 
chester — Parliamentary Tactics — Agitators' Troubles — 
Postal Reform — A Tory Ministry — Cobden in Parlia- 
ment — Compact between Cobden and John Bright — The 
Press opens its Columns — Thomas Moore — Thomas 
Campbell — -The Year 1844 — Absurd Remedies Proposed, 151 
16 



Contents 

Chapter VII. 

THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN. 

Beginning of 1845 — The Income Tax — Bread Plentiful — 
Interest Waning — Cobden's Great Speech — Foretells 
Success, 175 

Chapter VIII. 

FAMINE AIDS THE LEAGUE. 

Only Want arouses a People — The Irish Potato-rot of 1845 
— Sir Robert Peel in 1845 — Lord John Russell — The 
Times — Vain Attempt to change Ministry, . . . .181 

Chapter IX. 

THE REPEAL. 

Sir Robert Peel announces his Conversion, 1846 — Benjamin 
Disraeli — Peel declares his Programme — Acrimonious 
Debates — Peel's Noble Stand — Bill passes Commons and 
Lords — Estimate of Victory, 187 

Chapter X. 

LESSONS FOR THE PRESENT. 

Importance of Repeal and of Reform Bill — Obstacles Appar- 
ently Insurmountable — No Such Word as Fail — League 
Methods — Singleness of Aim — Tables Turned — Youth 
the Mainstay of Anti-Corn-Law Movement — Appeal to 
Reason and Conscience — Lessons of Chartism — Con- 
clusion, 195 

APPENDIX 

I. Typical Poems and Songs of the Period of the Corn- 
Law AND Chartist Agitations, 213 

Exordium to "The Village Patriarch," by Ebenezer 

Elliott, 214 

*' Battle Song," by Ebenezer Elliott, 215 

17 



Contents 

"The Home of Taste," by Ebenezer Elliott, .... 216 

*<The Press," by Ebenezer Elliott, "7 

«<The Cry of the Children," by Elizabeth Barrett, . . 218, 
*'The Song of the Shirt," by Thomas Hood, . . . 223 
•'The Souls of the Children," by Charles Mackay, . . 226 

"British Freedom," by Charles Mackay, 229 

*'The Wants of the People," by Charles Mackay, . .230 
Answer to Cowley's Question, by Charles Mackay, . 232 
*'The Three Preachers," by Charles Mackay, . . . 232 ; 
"The Voice of the Time," by Charles Mackay, . . 234 

"Now," by Charles Mackay, 236 

*'The Fermentation," by Charles Mackay, . . . ,237 

*'The Railways," by Charles Mackay, 239 

*'The Watcher on the Tower," by Charles Mackay, . 241 

*< Clear the Way," by Charles Mackay, 243 

"The Good Time Coming," by Charles Mackay, . . 244 

*'Eternal Justice," by Charles Mackay, 245 

"The Earth for All," by Gerald Massey, .... 248 
"The Lords of Land and Money," by Gerald Massey, 249 
"A Cry of the Unemployed," by Gerald Massey, . .250 
"Our Fathers are Praying for Pauper-Pay," Gerald Massey, 252 
From "Anathema Maranatha," by Gerald Massey, . . 254 
From "Onward and Sunward," by Gerald Massey, . 254 
*' Song of the Red Republican," by Gerald Massey, . 254 

"The Awakening," by Gerald Massey, 255 

"To-day and To-mor ow," by Gerald Massey, . . . 256 
"Alton Locke's Song," by Charles Kingsley, . . .257 
"The Day of the Lord," by Charles Kingsley, . . . 258 

II. Dr. Charles Mackay's Political Fable of the 

Tailor-ruled Land, 260 

III. Chartist Petition Presented to the Commons in 

1839, 264 

Index, 269 



INTRODUCTION 

IMPORTANCE AND TIMELINESS OF THE 
SUBJECT 

Birth of English Democracy — The Monarchical Form clothing a 
Republican Spirit — Two Typical Revolutions — Transition- 
period between the Old England and the New — Difficulties to 
be Met — Social Discontent. 

TO FRIENDS of popular government there 
has seldom been a decade of greater inter- 
est, or one more instructive in its practical 
lessons, than were the first ten years of Queen 
Victoria's reign ; for during this period the spirit 
of progressive democracy was introduced into the 
political life of Great Britain to such an extent that 
it changed the genius or character of the govern- 
ment. True, the new spirit was present when the 
great Reform Bill of 1 83 1-'32 was passed ; but per- 
sonal government could not be said to have given 

19 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

place to constitutional rule during the reign of 
William IV. Victoria, however, accepted the spirit 
as well as the letter of the new demand born of the 
democratic ideal that was to be progressively and 
practically applied to public affairs. Hence the 
beginning of her rule marked the advent of the 
republican temper which has been fostered and 
expanded with the succeeding years. 

History has afforded many sad illustrations of 
republican shells masking imperial despotism or 
intolerable tyrannies, under autocratic or oligarchi- 
cal rule ; but in England we find the form and 
paraphernalia of monarchy clothing a government 
which, since the dawn of the Victorian age, has suc-|i 
cessively enlarged the rights and privileges of the 
people, and which has from year to year, in its 
internal policy and in that of its Anglo-Saxon 
dependencies, accepted the larger demand of a free 
government whose face is set toward the republican 
ideal. For this reason a brief survey of the period 
will prove helpful and, I think, inspiring to those 
who are earnestly working for freedom, for fraternity, 
and for happiness based on justice and enlightenment 

The condition and general outlook in Englanc 
during the first years of Queen Victoria's reign wa^ 
in so many respects analogous to that present in 
France when Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette 



Importance a?id 'Timeliness of the Subject 

ascended the throne, that the happy outcome in 
Great Britain stands in bold and brilliant relief 
against the dark background of the wanton slaugh- 
ter of life and the destruction of property that 
marked the Reign of Terror. In each country the 
transition was revolutionary, working changes of a 
fundamental and far-reaching character. In France, 
all the savage and brutal instincts of millions were 
unleashed, the result being a drama of unparalleled 
ferocity, in which reason, justice, love and the 
humanitarian impulses were banished to enthrone 
hate and to glut revenge. In England, on the 
other hand, a revolution scarcely less fundamental, 
but slower in its processes, was carried to a victorious 
issue by peaceable measures, primarily through the 
unremitting and indefatigable labors of a little band 
of social reformers who fully understood the mean- 
ing and importance of the two words, organization 
and education ; and secondarily by the presence of 
high moral purpose and of far-seeing, courageous 
and incorruptible statesmanship, unhampered by 
the throne. 

The first decade of the Victorian age was, to use 
the language of Dr. Charles Mackay, " a transition 
period from the old England to the new. The slow 
civilization of our grandfathers was giving place to 
the far more active, prying, aggressive civilization 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

of the present day — the day of steam, electricity, 
and engineering, and of material rather than intel- 
lectual or moral progress." * Moreover, the diffi- 
culties and obstacles, at home and abroad, that 
confronted the State were of the gravest character. 
In Canada revolution, in Jamaica threatened revolt, 
in India the rising mutterings of a coming storm 
were enough to tax the wisdom of far greater states- 
men than easy-going Melbourne and his associates. 
But, serious as were these dangers, they sank into 
comparative insignificance before the rising flood of 
social discontent which, swelled as' it was by many 
different tributaries, threatened to sweep away the 
old regime with the fury that had marked the great 
continental revolution.*!" 

* Charles Mackay, LL.D., <' Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., 
P- 77- 

■j-"It is easy to imagine a succession of events," says Justin 
McCarthy, "which might have thrown the country into utter con- 
fusion. . . . Things were looking ominous for the new reign. The 
last two reigns had done much to loosen not only the personal feeling 
of allegiance, but even the general confidence in the virtue of mon- 1 
archical rule. . . . Social discontent prevailed almost everywhere. | 
. . . Class-interests were fiercely arrayed against each other. The 
cause of each man's class filled him with positive fanaticism." ("His-; 
tory of Our Own Times," Am. ed., vol. I., p. i6.) 1 



CHAPTER I. 

SOME LEADING CAUSES OF THE POPULAR 

UNREST 

The American Republic — Effect of the French Revolution — Pas- 
sage from Absolute to Constitutional Monarchy — Spirit of the 
Age — Physical Science — Philosophical and Religious Thought 
— The Oxford Movement — "No Popery" — Disappointment 
at Results of Reform Bill — Lord Durham — The New Poor 
Law — Machinery — Condition of the Poor — "The Cry of the 
People.'" 

TO APPRECIATE intelligently the diffi- 
culties that the statesmanship of the 'forties 
of the nineteenth century had to meet, it 
will be necessary for us to recall to mind some of 
the leading sources of this popular discontent. The 
fifty years that preceded the coronation of the Queen 
had revolutionized the thought of Europe. The 
vigorous young republic over the water, in spite of 
the gloomy predictions that had been confidently 
and persistently made in regard to her for half a 
century, had moved forward with stately and unin- 
terrupted tread, till she occupied a commanding 
position among the positive and inspiring powers 

^3 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

of civilization. Men of the Old World had become 
convinced that the daring ideals of the new order 
were practicable. The republic was "a great fact"; 
and its success had excited the wonder of the world, 
and the admiration of the friends of freedom in all 
lands. 

The French Revolution, through its excesses and 
the failure of the experiment, had caused a revulsion 
in public feeling ; but, in spite of this, the upheaval 
had shaken every throne in western Europe, and 
planted a great new hope in the hearts of miUions 
of people. Moreover, the broadly humanitarian 
and philosophical controversies and intellectual agi- 
tations that preceded and followed the Revolution 
had appealed to the conscience, to the rationality,' 
and to the sense of justice of more than one great 
English statesman, while they produced a profound 
and indelible impression upon the great middle class 
of the nation. 

Another factor that strengthened the revolutionary 

impulses was the new-born confidence on the part 

of the masses in their own power, when once banded 

together. The starving miserables of France, when 

acting in concert, had proved irresistible against even 

the Bastile and the throne. This sahent fact had 

taken lodgment in the minds of tens of thousands 

of the very poor, vs^ho seemed to be too ignorant to 

24 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

appreciate the higher motives that actuated those 
who were fighting the battle of progress from a 
love of justice ; and this realization of the possi- 
bility ot victory made them far less patient than 
they had been before the upheaval in France. 

At this time all western continental Europe was 
fast moving toward a revolutionary outbreak, and 
England had become infected with the spirit of 
revolt. Then, again, during the last two reigns the 
nation had passed from a personal monarchy to a 
constitutional form of government ; and the van- 
ishing of the old reverence that had hedged the 
throne was noticeable in every class, though it was 
perhaps nowhere so conspicuous as among the very 
poor, whose lot was pitiable in the extreme. 

The tendency to revolt was favored by the general 
temper of the age. It was a time when the thought 
of the nation was in a state of flux. The old views 
were rapidly falling away. Ancient theories were 
being questioned, when indeed they were not impa- 
tiently discarded. The old ideals were giving place 
to new ones more in harmony with the larger thought 
that had come with the larger life of the age. It 
was as if the word change were graven over every 
gatev/ay of research. In science, in religion, in com- 
merce and trade, no less than in political and social 
economy, there was a degree of restlessness that 

25 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

always marks a time of growth and transition, and 
which gives impetus to revolutionary impulses. In 
the epigrammatic phrase of Lord Brougham, " The 
schoolmaster was abroad in the land." 

The value of steam and the wonders and uses of 
electricity were new to the nation ; and these dis- 
coveries were stimulating the brain of thousands of 
inventive geniuses, while they opened new worlds 
of possibility to the mercantile and trading classes. 

Physical science was also girding herself for the 
most brilliant march of discovery in the history of 
the ages — a march in which Great Britain was to 
take a leading part. Charles Darwin had returned 
from his memorable voyage round the world in 
"The Beagle," and, with brain teeming with new 
and wonderful thought born of his research, was 
busily engaged in the production of his immortal 
works; while Alfred Russell Wallace, Herbert Spen- 
cer, John Tyndall and others who were to make the 
nineteenth century forever glorious in the history 
of scientific progress, were in the flush of early 
manhood. 

In the domain of religion the revolutionary 

impulses were very marked. The rise of physical 

science, with the startling new theories of evolution; 

the innovations of investigators in natural history, 

in geology, in astronomy, and indeed in all depart- 

26 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

ments of scientific research ; the general quickening 
of the spirit of unrest and skepticism ; the spread 
of German transcendentahsm, and the dissemination 
of the philosophical French liberalism, were influ- 
encing the thought of England. Perhaps this was 
nowhere more apparent than in the broadening 
vision of great divines and churchmen. But this 
invasion of the precincts of the church by the 
newer thought and speculation, while it wove a fas- 
cinating spell over many of the noblest thinkers, 
naturally produced a powerful reaction in the minds 
of others no less able or conscientious, who saw 
with the gravest apprehension the fading away of 
the old reverence for form, for rite, for ritual, and 
for dogma. To them it seemed that the church, 
loosed from her moorings, was floating into a sea 
of skepticism. In 1833 the famous Oxford Move- 
.ment was launched by John Henry Newman and 
other able and intensely religious men. They were 
reactionists who, unconsciously at first, had set their 
face toward Rome. In 1841 Dr. Newman issued 
his famous " Tract No. 90," which occasioned such 
heated controversy that it might almost be said to 
have convulsed the councils of the Established 
Church. To the clear-seeing it was evident that 
the keen thinker and masterly logician, its author, 

was already under the fascination of the great Latin 

%7 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

church ; and his formal acceptance of Catholicisml 
in 1845, surprised no one. 

The years that followed the Oxford Movement 
were marked by a religious upheaval which shook 
the Church of England as it had not been moved 
in generations. The controversies were between 
intellectual giants, who were also men of pure 
motives and noble impulses ; in the strenuous con- 
flict life-long friends were arrayed against each other, 
teachers against disciples, and brother against brother. 
A striking: instance of this was seen in the case of 
the Newman brothers. We have seen how the new 
thought and larger views of life that busied the brain 
of the period filled the mystical and contemplative 
divine, John Henry Newman, with alarm, and drove 
him into the arms of Rome. The same influences, 
playing upon the more rationalistic mind of Francis 
Newman, fascinated him with the broader outlook 
and led him into the ranks of Liberalism.* 

* These brothers were equally pure in heart and purpose, equally 
sincere and earnest. Both were passionate lovers of truth. Each was 
logical and endowed with keen intellectual perception. But with the 
one the mystical and poetic quality, with the other the rationalistic, 
seemed to hold supremacy. In the Newman brothers we have one of 
the most suggestive illustrations of how the same influences will produce 
diametrically opposite impressions on two elevated, truth-loving natures. 
Their lives also show something of the play of forces at work in the 
church at this period. We can easily understand how the scholarship 
of England was moved by the keen and often bitter controversy, and 
how something of the old-time prejudice flamed up in the minds of 
some of her noblest churchmen. 

28 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

The effect upon the popular mind of this move- 
ment toward the Church of Rome by a few of the 
brightest lights of the English church was insignifi- 
cant, as compared with the general alarm and preju- 
dice excited by another agitation, largely without 
substantial basis, which was professedly religious, 
but was in reality carried on chiefly for political 
ends. The old cry of " No Popery ! " was used as a 
slogan by demagogues, and the fact that O'Connell 
and his colleagues were acting with Lord Melbourne 
was seized on by the Opposition to excite the relig- 
ious prejudices of the sentimental and the timid to 
the dangerous pass where judgment and reason 
become clouded, if they do not even give place to 
insane hate. The spirit of religious intolerance and 
bigotry ever sleeps lightly in the heart of a people 
that holds with grim tenacity to a dogmatic theology; 
and to us of the present day it seems almost incred- 
ible that eminent men, who represented that element 
of society which prided itself on its conservatism and 
respectability, should have gone to such lengths as 
did the Tories in an attempt to unleash the religious 
fanaticism of the people. 

A great cry was raised by the Conservatives at the 
danger that threatened England from the immaturity 
of the Queen, and from the friendliness shown by 
the ministry to Daniel O'Connell and other Irish- 

29 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

Catholic members of the House. For a time there 
seemed to be a systematic and determined attempt 
to create the impression that there was grave danger 
of the Queen throwing her influence in favor of 
" Popery," as the Conservatives were pleased to 
term Catholicism. 

Many intimations were indulged in to the effect 
that an effort was being made to wed the youthful 
sovereign to a Catholic prince. It is an old and 
favorite device of politicians who are governed by 
motives other than the highest, to assume as a fact 
something derogatory to the Opposition, and then 
to argue on the false assumption as if it were 
sound. At this time demagogues were quick to 
employ this discreditable method to injure the min- 
istry by further inflaming the religious passions of 
the people. 

Even the staid old London 'Times insisted that 
" the anticipations of certain Irish Roman Catholics 
respecting the success of their warfare against church 
and state under the auspices of these not untried 
ministers into whose hands the all but infant Queen 
has been compelled by her unhappy condition to 
deliver herself and her indignant people are to be 
taken for nothing, and as nothing, but the chimeras 
of a band of visionary traitors." 

It is a law of life that like calls forth like, and 

30 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

the Liberals were not slow in retaliating. Charges 
of meditated treason and dark hints of designs upon 
the throne were freely and unjustifiably indulged in. 
Mr. Henry Grattan, the son of the great orator, in 
a public address said : " If her Majesty were once 
fairly placed in the hands of the Tories, I would 
not give an orange peel for her life." And in order 
to give further emphasis to his absurd and extra- 
ordinary imputation, he added : "If some of the 
low miscreants of the party got round her Majesty 
and had the mixing of the royal bowl at night, I 
fear she would have a long sleep." 

While it is obvious that this agitation was due 
chiefly to political demagogy, it cannot be denied 
that the trouble was constantly fed by indiscreet 
and indefensible utterances and actions on the part 
both of Catholics and of Protestants, chiefly in 
Ireland, though to some extent in England also.* 

* It was during the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, when the 
Corn-Law agitators and the anti-Papal zealots were active, that Thomas 
Moore voiced the sentiments of thousands of Englishmen in a little 
waif, two stanzas of which run as follows : 

"What, still those two infernal questions. 
That with our meals, our slumber mix ! 
That spoil our tempers and digestions, 
Eternal Corn and Catholics ! 

"Gods! were there ever two such bores! 
Nothing else talked of night or mom, 
Nothing in doors, or out of doors, 
But endless Catholics and Corn!" 

31 



How England Averted a 'Revolution of Force 

It is thus quite clear that the general spirit of the 
time was one of widespread unrest. But, passing 
from a general survey to a closer scrutiny of the 
politicaljof the social, and of the economic conditions, 
we see everywhere indications of a great storm 
brewing.* 

The profound agitation that had convulsed Eng- 
land during the long, memorable and bitterly con- 
tested Reform-Bill struggle, had interested as no 
agitation had ever done before the masses of the 
English people in political measures ; and, as is 
always the case when some distinctively progressive 
step is taken, the bill had aroused extravagant and 
unwarranted expectations in the minds of thousands 
of the slow-thinking toilers. There of course had 
followed in this class bitter disappointment, while 
even the more discerning and discriminating among 
progressive Englishmen, who regarded the measure 



* The mistakes of the Conservatives had exerted a strong influence 
upon the public mind. This had been very noticeable in the popular 
reaction that followed the persistent attempt of the Duke of Welling- 
ton, in 1830, when at the head of the ministry, to destroy the freedom 
of the press by rigorous persecution (see "History of the English 
Parliament," vol. XIII.). Although this dangerous attempt of the 
crown and its ministers came practically to an end in 1831 with the 
failure of the Whig attorney-general to convict Cobbett, the effort had 
served to arouse the more thoughtful and patriotic among the people 
to the importance not only of boldly resisting the attempts to suppress 
the freedom of the press, but also of uniting in a demand for larger 
freedom and a wider meed of justice. 

3a 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

merely as the opening wedge (as indeed it proved to 
be) to greater and more essential reforms, were dis- 
appointed on finding that the Liberal or Whig party 
had no intention of involving the country in further 
agitation by taking the " next step." 

The laboring classes were enraged by the refusal 
of the Liberal ministry to extend the franchise, or 
to adopt other measures that it was believed would 
better the pitiable condition of workingmen. They 
had worked hard for the success of the Reform Bill. 
Indeed, the measure would never have become a 
law had it not been for the artisan class. Royalty 
and the aristocracy yielded only after it had become 
clear that revolution would inevitably follow if they 
persisted in their opposition. The gigantic demon- 
strations of revolt in England, in 1831, after the 
Lords had refused to pass the measure, revealed to 
the Conservatives the ugly fact that " if constitu- 
tional means failed the bill would be carried by 
unconstitutional pressure."* None knew better than 
did the workingmen that the success of the Reform 
Bill had been made possible by their persistent, 
determined and united action ; and they now felt 
that, in common fairness, the demands of the artisan 
:lass should receive consideration at the hands of 
those whom they had helped, who had promised to 

*J. Franck Bright, D.D., "History of England," vol. III., p. 1426. 
3 33 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

be and who they had supposed were their friends. 

In spite however of the indignation of the labor- 
ing classes, and of the angry cry of the starving in 
the great cities, the Liberals refused to advance. 
Lord Melbourne and Lord Russell seemed to 
think that, after the passage of the Reform Bill, 
the people should rest content for a generation, 
while the ministry enjoyed the emoluments and 
honors of office undisturbed — as a reward for what 
they had done. 

Lord Durham, it is true, wished to move forward. 
He was a great statesman, with all his faults ; in 
many respects, one of the most commanding and 
influential figures of the stormy days before the 
Reform Bill became a law. In fact, its success was 
in no small degree due to his indefatigable labors. 
Had he had his way, the bill would have been far 
more radical and republican in spirit and in char- 
acter. He was the most advanced member of Lord 
Grey's illustrious cabinet, and was long regarded 
as the hope of the progressive reformers. He 
was brave, bold, imperious, often passionate in 
his outbursts when he felt that custom, law, or 
man's selfishness was retarding justice, or blocking 
progress. 

But Lord Durham was not to be the chosen 
leader who should guide the English nation forward 

34 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

into a broader and happier estate. A short time 
after the accession of the Queen, he was sent to 
Canada to quell the rebellion which had broken out 
in that province. Here he set out, as some one has 
observed, "to make or mar a career, if not a country." 
But an evil fate pursued him. He builded wisely ; 
he wrought great things ; yet in so doing he ruined 
himself.* 

Lord Durham, however, was far too radical to 
suit the majority of the Whigs. Indeed, the Mel- 
bourne cabinet, which first essayed to guide the 
fortunes of England under Victoria, was almost as 
indifferent to the wrongs of the poor as the Tories 
were solicitous for the preservation and protection 
of the ancient privileges and vested rights of the 
landed gentry. Hence throughout the kingdom 
the rising tide of angry discontent, which had 

* Mr. McCarthy admirably characterizes Lord Durham's labors 
and their results in the following passage : 

"Lord Durham made a country and he marred a career. He is 
distinctly the founder of the system which has since worked with such 
gratifying success in Canada ; he is the founder even of the principle 
which allowed the quiet development of the provinces into a confeder- 
ation with neighbouring colonies under the name of the Dominion of 
Canada. But the singular quality which in home politics had helped 
to mar so much of Lord Durham's personal career was in full work 
during his visit to Canada. It would not be easy to find in modern 
political history so curious an example of splendid success combined 
with all the appearance of utter and disastrous failure. The mission 
of Lord Durham saved Canada. It ruined Lord Durham." (" History 
of Our Own Times," Am. ed., vol. I., p. 43.) 

35 



How Engl a fid Averted a Revolution of Force 

rapidly increased during the latter half of William's 
reign, swelled ominously as the terrible distress of 
the working classes in the great cities grew during 
the opening years of Victoria's rule. 

The Liberals had further incensed the very poor 
by the enactment, in 1833, of a new poor law, which 
abolished outdoor relief and established workhouses 
for the reception of the starving. By this law, hus- 
bands and wives demanding assistance were not only 
compelled to work (which in the large majority of 
cases they were quite willing to do), but they were 
separated, in order that society should not be bur- 
dened by additional expense due to any more chil- 
dren born ; while the little ones who had already 
come into the world were taken from their parents. 
We can easily understand how extremely brutal this 
statute appeared to be to hundreds of thousands of 
the very poor, whose lives had been spent in a tragic 
battle for bread, and whose only joy in existence lay 
under the little roof that sheltered husband, wife 
and children. The condition of tens of thousands 
of the working people was so precarious that none 
knew when he might be forced to ask for bread ; 
and to know that that asking would be met by the 
demand for the breaking-up of the home and the 
incarceration of its inmates in workhouses produced 

the most bitter resentment, and led to many riots. 

36 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

For generations a large proportion of the working 
people had lived in constant fear of starvation and the 
potter's field. Thousands rarely, if ever, enjoyed 
a full meal. During the reform agitation they had 
been led to hope for better things, and instead of 
the expected loaf the Liberals had given them a 
stone in the form of the new poor bill. 

Another cause of apprehension and discontent 
among the poor was found in the rapid introduc- 
tion of machinery, which had already begun to dis- 
place thousands of workers. So long as the toilers 
had felt that the employers were compelled to make 
use of their services, they had had something to 
hope for in the way of work ; but as machine after 
machine was introduced, each of which performed 
the labor of a number of workers, a feeling akin to 
despair took possession of a large proportion of the 
artisan class and goaded them to many acts of vio- 
lence, such as breaking up the machinery, and in 
other ways seeking to wreak vengeance on the 
employers who, they felt, were attempting to 
deprive them of the miserable pittance necessary to 
keep them from the poorhouse. 

It was this rebellious spirit, born of a sense of 
injustice, on the part of tens of thousands of Eng- 
lish laborers, and the dreadful suffering from over- 
work and under-pay, which prevailed at this time, 

37 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

that made the outlook peculiarly dark. In all the 
great cities there were thousands of persons in a 
state of chronic hunger. The opening winter of 
Victoria's reign proved extremely severe, — a fact 
that of course greatly augmented the sufferings of 
the " out-of-works." From this time forth till the 
repeal of the Corn Laws, the ominous specter of 
Revolution rose threateningly and in increasing 
proportions against the political sky of Great 
Britain. 

To appreciate properly the grievances of the poor 
let us glance for a moment at their condition. In 
the mining regions, for example, the revelations 
brought out by a parliamentary investigation secured 
by Lord Ashley seem to us at the present day 
almost beyond belief, and are enough to excite hor- 
ror in the mind of the most easy-going conven- 
tionalist. 

It was shown by the report of the investigation 
that in some of the coal mines in England, in Scot- 
land, and in Wales children only four years of age 
were set at work, while in most of the collieries 
boys and girls on reaching five and six years were 
put to laborious tasks. These children, and also 
women, were made to do all the work of burden- 
bearing beasts. In many places "the coal-seams 
were not more than twenty-two to twenty-eight 

38 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

inches in height, the heat was intense, water was 
constantly dripping, frequently it lay deep over the 
feet and lower limbs of the workers. Along these 
terrible passages, for a hundred or two hundred 
yards in length, between the working-places, the 
children and women had to crawl along on all fours, 
with a girdle passing round their waists, and har- 
nessed by a chain between their legs to the carts 
they were drawing." * 

The testimony elicited from the workers by the 
investigating committee was almost past belief. 
Thus, for example, one poor woman said : " I have 
been in water up to my thighs ; I go on my hands 
and feet ; the road is very steep ; when there is no 
rope we have to catch hold of anything we can; 
my clothes are wet through all day long; I have 
drawn till I have had the skin off me." 

One of the commissioners said : " I found a little 
girl, six years of age, carrying half a cwt., and making 
regularly fourteen long journeys a day. The height 
ascended, and the distance along the road, exceeded 
in each journey the height of St. Paul's Cathedral." 
The children used to work on alternate days, but 
their working day was from sixteen to twenty-four 
hours. " I have repeatedly worked," said a girl of 
seventeen years of age, " for twenty-four hours." 

*J. Franck Bright, D.D., " History of England," vol. IV., p. 89. 

39 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

The general working day was from fourteen to 
sixteen hours. It was further shown that the men 
in the mines were absolutely naked, and that the 
only clothing worn by the women was a pair of 
trousers made of coarse sacking. Under these cir- 
cumstances, it is not to be wondered at that decency 
and modesty gave way to such revolting moral con- 
ditions that the imagination shrinks in horror from 
their contemplation, or that all hope, joy and aspira- 
tion had abandoned the lives of these slaves of a 
tragic fate and victims of man's inhumanity. 

The revelation of abuses of child-labor in the 
factories, also brought about by the laudable efforts 
of Lord Ashley, were only less disgraceful than were 
those called forth by his commission in its investi- 
gation of the collieries. 

In the villages and rural districts, as well as in the 
great cities, there was widespread misery among the 
poor ; but the suffering was most acute in the manu- 
facturing centers. The noble-minded poet, Thomas 
Cooper, has related many typical instances that help 
us to understand the feeling of the poor. On one 
occasion he says that a needy stockinger rushed into 
his house exclaiming: "I wish they would hang me. 
I have lived on cold potatoes that were given me 
these two days, and this morning I've eaten a raw 

potato for sheer hunger." On another occasion, 

40 



Some Causes of the Popular Unrest 

when an address was being delivered by one of 
the Chartists, a poor man exclaimed: "Let us be 
patient a little longer, surely God Almighty will 
help us soon." *' Talk to us no more about thy 
Goddle Mighty," was the prompt retort; "there 
isn't one! If there was one, He wouldn't let us 
suffer as we do!" 

The pitiable condition of the poor, which was 
so painfully apparent in all the humbler walks 
of life, called forth many impassioned and some 
seemingly intemperate appeals from a number of 
the finest and most sensitive exponents of the 
conscience of England. But I know of no descrip- 
tive lines that more simply, yet faithfully, portray 
the temper and feeling of the great growing army 
of discontented toilers than do the following stanzas 
from Dr. Charles Mackay's poem entitled "The 
Cry of the People": 

"Our backs are bowed with the exceeding weight 

Of toil and sorrow, and our pallid faces 
Shrivel before their time. Early and late 

We labour in our old accustom 'd places, 
Beside our close and melancholy looms, 

Or witlier in the coal-seams dark and dreary, 
Or breathe sick vapours in o'ercrowded rooms, 

Or in the healthier fields dig till we weary. 
And grow old men ere we have reached our prime. 
With scarce a wish, but death, to ask of Time. 
41 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

"For it is hard to labour night and day, 

With sleep-defrauded eyes and temples aching. 
To earn the scanty crust, which fails to stay 

The hunger of our little ones, that waking 
Weep for their daily bread. 'Tis hard to see 

The flow' rets of our household fade in sadness. 
In the dank shadow of our misery. 

'Tis hard to have no thought of human gladness. 
But one engrossing agony for bread, 
To haunt us at our toil, and in our bed. 



**'Tis hard to know that the increase of wealth 

Makes us no richer, gives us no reliance ; 
And that while ease, and luxury, and health 

Follow the footsteps of advancing science. 
They shower no benefits on us, cast out 

From the fair highways of the world, to wander 
In dark paths darkly groping still about. 

And at each turn condemn'd to rest and ponder 
If living be the only aim of life — 
Mere living, purchased by perpetual strife." 



4* 



CHAPTER II. 

ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND RESULT OF 
CHARTISM 

Estimate of Movement — Reform Bill of 1831 — Middle Classes 
demand Representation — Reform Necessary — Difficulties in the 
Way — Votes on Bill — Passage of Bill — Result of Bill — Reac- 
tion — Rise of Chartism — Its Demands — Its Spread — Conserva- 
tism of the Masses — The Reformer — Leaders of Movement — 
Unwise Advocates — Hov^r Chartism might have Succeeded — 
Indifference of Government — Opposition and Riots — A New 
Influence. 

WE NOW come to notice the birth, growth 
and fate of that movement which is 
known in English pohtical history as 
" Chartism." This movement, by virtue of its 
rapid spread no less than of its revolutionary and 
aggressive spirit, caused widespread alarm in Eng- 
land ; it also served an excellent purpose in hasten- 
ing the repeal of the Corn Laws and the enactment 
of salutary reform statutes that, without such stim- 
ulus, would probably have been delayed. But 
besides, above and beyond this, it kept so promi- 
nently before the people the larger demands of the 

43 



How Ejigiand Averted a devolution of Force 

age that the duties and responsibiHtles that a gov- 
ernment owes to all its citizens became fixed ideas 
in the minds of millions of workers who, before the 
Reform-Bill agitation, had taken but little interest 
in public affairs. Moreover, it aided in no small 
degree in bringing the popular imagination under 
the influence of the spirit of democracy, thus fur- 
thering the progressive enlargement of the rights of 
the citizens that has been one of the distinguishing 
characteristics of the Victorian era. 

To comprehend the aim and hope of Chartism, 
it will be necessary to review briefly the history of 
the Reform Bill of iSji-'ji, and also to notice the 
essential features of that great measure which marked 
an epoch in English constitutional history ; • as it 
was largely the success of the Reform-Bill agitation 
that revealed to the breadwinners of England the 
power that, under certain conditions, they might 
wield in shaping legislation. The bill itself sug- 
gested the next step, which, when taken, would give 
also to the artisan class that substantial representa- 
tion in government which they fondly believed 
would speedily bring about just and beneficent con- 
ditions for the poor. 

At the outset, in order to appreciate the philo- 
sophical basis of Chartism, we should keep in mind 
the larger life that the French Revolution had sug- 

44 



Origin^ Progress^ and Result of Chartism 

gested to the people of England, and the equally- 
important fact that the rise of democracy on the 
Continent threatened not only the demolition of 
thrones, but also the destruction of the aristocracy. 
It would be difficult to exaggerate the consternation 
of the English aristocracy caused by the French 
Revolution and, later, by the victorious march of 
the Corsican, who, though not a republican, was 
nevertheless the enemy of aristocracy and the 
destroyer of the old order. To preserve the 
supremacy of aristocratic rule it was necessary to 
secure the general support of the middle classes. 
Their wealth, no less than their aid in other ways, 
saved England ; but with peace and a huge debt 
incurred in prosecuting the war, the aristocracy was 
confronted by a new and unwelcome demand. The 
middle classes who had contributed so largely to the 
preservation of the old form of government in 
England, now im.periously demanded substantial 
representation in her halls of legislation. It soon 
became apparent, however, that the reform agitation 
had but little prospect of success without the aid of 
the toihng millions ; and to them the middle class 
appealed. "It was not, however," observes Mr. 
Gammage, " without the promise of substantial 
advantages that the middle class succeeded in win- 
ning the cooperation of the masses, who were them- 

45 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

selves looking forward to an extension of political 
power. . . . The middle class persuaded them for 
a season to forego their more extensive claims, in 
order the more effectually to secure them ultimately. 
*Aid uSj' said they, * in gaining the Reform Bill, and 
as soon as we are enfranchised we will make use of 
our power in assisting you to the attainment of your 
rights.' " * 

On the death of George IV., which occurred on 
June 26, 1830, the social conditions of England 
were such as occasioned great uneasiness in govern- 
ment circles. The illiberal spirit of the Tory gov- 
ernment under the Duke of Wellington, the increas- 
ing unpopularity of the late King, the widespread 
sufferings of the poor throughout country and city, 
the vigorous assaults of the more liberal of the Whig 
members of the aristocracy and of the middle classes 
upon the time-honored rule of the aristocracy, the 
rapid growth of revolutionary literature, the pres- 
ence of large numbers of agitators among the poor, 
the frequent outbreaks of mobs in the manufactur- 
ing districts where machines were destroyed, and an 
epidemic of rick-burning in southern England that 
, even the apprehension and hanging of a number of 
persons charged with the offence failed to check, 

*R. G. Gammage, " History of the Chartist Movement," p. 3. 

46 



Origin^ Progress, and Result of Chartism 

were ominous signs of the times when William IV. 
ascended the throne. 

The parliamentary election of 1830 had resulted 
in a substantial Liberal victory. The general 
demand for a radical reform in government, which 
should abolish the rotten boroughs and also secure 
for the middle class influential representation in 
Parliament, had been strongly emphasized in this 
election. H ence there was great excitement through- 
out the realm when Parliament assembled, on 
the second of November, 1830, to hear the mes- 
sage of the new King. Not a few expected that 
the Duke of Wellington would be promptly retired, 
and that Lord Grey, the leader of the reform 
wing of the Whig party, would be summoned to 
form a ministry. 

The King, however, ignored the popular demand. 
The speech from the throne was a bitter disappoint- 
ment to the people, being ultra-conservative in tone. 
The Duke of Wellington remained at the head of 
the cabinet ; and in answer to a suggestion of Lord 
Grey's looking toward taking up the matter of the 
reform, he made the amazing statement that in his 
opinion the present legislative system possessed the 
confidence of the country, and that he was not pre- 
pared to favor any reform. The duke furthermore 
positively asserted that, " as long as he held any 

47 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

station in the government of the country, he should 
always feel it his duty to resist such measures when 
proposed by others." 

But the Liberal party was in no mood for acqui- 
escing in the Bourbon programme of the Conserva- 
tives, and Lord Brougham immediately gave notice 
that he should propose a motion for reform on the 
sixteenth of November. As the house was over- 
whelmingly Liberal, there was no question but the 
government would be defeated ; but before the date 
'set for the motion the Tory ministry had sent in its 
resignation, and Lord Grey was charged with the 
duty of forming a new cabinet. 

The difficulties that confronted the new ministry 
were very great, a fact that became apparent imme- 
diately on the introduction of the Reform Bill. A 
large number of the seats in the House of Com- 
mons were filled by members who represented nomi- 
nation or " rotten " boroughs ; naturally enough, 
these members were indisposed to vote for a measure 
that contained as a cardinal provision the abolition 
of their seats. The Tory press denounced the 
proposed reforms as revolutionary ; the Radicals 
were indignant because they were so conservative. 
The House of Lords was overwhelmingly opposed 
to the bill, and there was a general insistence on the 
part of the Tories that the riots and other expres- 



Origin y Progress^ and Result of Chartism 

At this juncture, however, there arose another 
influence in English political life, which served to 
avert the storm and yet won for the people the 
reform measures most urgently required at that time, 
while the victory was of such a nature as set the 
face of the government steadfastly toward rational 
and progressive Liberalism. 

Before noticing the rise and triumph of the Anti- 
Corn-Law League that accomplished so much for 
peace and for progress at this crisis in national his- 
tory, it will be well to glance briefly at the legisla- 
tion relating to the trade in grain that, for over 
eight centuries, vexed the British Isles. 



67 



CHAPTER III. 

HISrORT OF THE CORN LAWS 

Corn Laws after Norman Conquest — Statute of 1436 — Statute of 
1463 — Legislation of 1 660-1 670 — Corn Laws under William 
and Mary — Burke's Act (1773) — Statute of 1791 — Enact- 
ments from 1 79 1 to 1846 — Repeal of Corn Laws becomes Ques- 
tion of the Hour. 

AS THE Corn Laws, which made dear bread 
/-^ by statutory monopoly, were the storm- 
-^ -^ center around which the reform forces 
marshaled their strength in the 'forties of the last 
century, it will be well to survey briefly the restric- 
tive legislation on grain that, for eight hundred years, 
challenged the attention of English lawmakers. 

It is an interesting fact that for four centuries 
after the Norman Conquest the Corn Laws, instead 
of being framed for the purpose of protecting and 
benefiting a particular class by maintaining high 
prices, were enacted with the definite aim of 
keeping down the cost of the grains used as bread- 
stuffs, such as wheat, oats, barley and rye — all 
of which came under the general term of corn. 

68 



History of the Corn Laws 

The early laws prohibited exportation, save in 
years of great abundance ; when, under special 
permits or licenses, the producers were allowed to 
export their surplus. 

The origin of these restrictive laws was probably 
a desire on the part of statesmen to relieve suffering 
among the poor, and to promote more intimate 
commercial intercourse between different sections 
of the country. There were frequently failures 
of crops in one part of the realm, and abundant 
harvests elsewhere. But in those early days the 
facilities for intercourse were very primitive. The 
roads were often well-nigh impassable, and the 
country was in many parts sparsely settled and 
infested by bands of robbers. These and other 
causes rendered it frequently far easier, safer and 
cheaper to market grain in the nearest foreign 
port, than to attempt to find customers in remote 
districts at home where scarcity prevailed. The 
efforts of the lawmakers to interfere with free- 
dom of trade, though well intended, worked injuri- 
ously rather than otherwise, as they served to dis- 
courage the grain raising. 

In 1436, during the reign of Henry VI., a statute 

was enacted permitting exportation without license 

whenever the price of grain fell below certain stated 

figures. The preamble of this act discloses a com- 

69 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

plete change amounting to a reversal of the aim of 
the restrictive statute, as it definitely states as the 
reason for the proposed law that previous legislation 
had compelled the farmers to sell their corn at low 
prices. 

Almost a generation later (1463) a still more pro- 
nounced measure was secured in the interests of the 
landed class. This law, which sought to secure for 
the agriculturists a monopoly of the whole market, 
prohibited the importation of grain except when the 
price at home reached the figures at which export 
was by law prohibited. 

In 1660, during the reign of Charles II., another 
innovation was made in the corn legislation, with a 
view to increasing the revenues of the state. Exports 
and imports were permitted, but each were subject 
to heavy duties. 

The practical result of this legislation was 
however satisfactory only to the landed class, as 
it virtually prevented any foreign trade, and while 
making the price of grain high it yielded but 
little revenue to the government; so in 1663 
sweeping reductions were made in the duties, 
which served to increase the revenues, but aroused 
the united and effective resistance of the landed 
class, who found their monopoly broken up 

through the change in legislation, and in 1670 

70 



History of the Corn haws 

restrictive laws favorable to the agriculturists were 
enacted. 

Even this legislation, however, failed to satisfy 
the protected class. The appetite of monopoly 
is insatiable. The cry of those who through 
state-conferred benefits become rich and powerful 
is ever for " more," and their tone becomes 
more and more imperative as they gain in wealth 
and influence. 

The revolution that brought William and Mary 
to the throne was promptly taken advantage of by 
the landed class for further benefits. Heavy duties 
on imports were levied, while not only were all 
duties on exports abolished, but bounties were 
granted on grain exported from the realm. " The 
system of corn law established in the reign of Will- 
iam and Mary," observes an able writer, " was 
probably the most perfect to be conceived for 
advancing the agricultural interest of any country. 
Every stroke of the legislation seemed complete to 
this end. Yet it wholly failed of its purpose, because 
no industrial interest whatever can by any artificial 
means prosper, save in harmonious connection with 
the progress of other interests." * 

The results of these laws were disappointing to 

* R. Somers' essay on the Corn Laws, ninth edition of the "Ency- 
clopaedia Britannica," vol. VI., p. 410. 

71 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

the landed class, a great expense to the government, 
and a source of discontent among the poor, who 
were coming to regard the beneficiaries of dear corn 
as their natural enemies. 

In 1773 Burke secured the passage of an act that 
changed and modified the laws in many important 
ways. Under this statute the small duty of six 
pence was imposed on importations, when the home 
price of wheat was forty-eight shillings a quarter. 
The statute further not only abolished all bounties 
on grain exported when the price was forty-four 
shillings a quarter, but even forbade the sending of 
grain from the island. For some time after the 
enactment of this statute legislation was more favor- 
able to freer trade. This was especially noticeable 
in the act of 1773 relating to the Corn Laws, and 
also in the commercial treaty negotiated by Mr. Pitt 
between England and France. 

With the upheaval on the Continent, caused by 
the French Revolution, and the coincident disturbed 
condition that prevailed in England, came a strong 
reaction in which the old restrictive policy again 
gained supremacy ; and for more than fifty years the 
question of the Corn Laws was one of the most 
vexatious that confronted the great parties. During 
all these years the landed interests were so intrenched 
in the government that, though the laws were con- 

72 



History of the Corn Laws 

stantly meddled with and modified, it was not until 
after the accession of Victoria that there was any- 
serious opposition aiming at the destruction of the 
ancient monopoly. 

The reaction from the liberal policy introduced 
by Burke was marked in 1791 by the passage of a 
statute whose main feature provided for a prohibitory 
tax on all imported wheat so long as the market 
price was fifty shillings a quarter, while a duty 
of two shillings six pence was levied when the 
price ranged between fifty and fifty-four shillings, 
and a nominal tax of six pence was levied when 
wheat reached fifty-four shillings. A bounty on 
exports was granted, and in all its various pro- 
visions the interests of the grain-raising class were 
considered. 

Following the enactment of this law, came some 
years in which the harvests were failures and the 
sufferings of the poor very great; but Parliament was 
so thoroughly dominated by those interested in the 
corn monopoly that it was impossible to revert to 
the more liberal laws of earlier times, while the cry 
against the bread-tax began to grow ominously. To 
meet this emergency Parliament granted high boun- 
ties on importations of grain. 

The various legislative enactments between 1791 
and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 consisted 

73 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

chiefly of modifications of the sliding scale of duties 
on imports, though there was in 1825 a temporary- 
exception to the rule relating to Canada, when 
for a time a fixed duty of five shillings a quarter, 
regardless of price, was laid on all wheat that 
came from the British provinces in North America. 

In 1828 a law was passed fixing a duty of 
twenty-three shillings on imported wheat when 
the market price was sixty-four shillings ; sixteen 
shillings eight pence when the price was sixty- 
nine shillings, and the nominal tax of one shilling 
a quarter when the market price was seventy-three 
shillings, or over. 

This sliding scale gave rise to great discontent 
among traders, and served to discourage all traffic 
in grain, as will be appreciated when its provisions 
are considered. Thus, for example, we will suppose 
that the market for wheat indicated a rise, that it 
reached seventy-two shillings, and that the merchant 
placed a heavy order. If the price rose to seventy- 
three before his grain arrived, he would have but 
one shilling to pay on the quarter ; but, on the other 
hand, if the price dropped three points, or to sixty- 
nine, he would have sixteen shillings eight pence to 
pay, while if the price fell to sixty-four shillings he 
would have twenty-three shillings to pay on every 
quarter. 

^ 74 



History of the Corn Laws 

It is easy to see how such statutes fostered whole- 
sale gambling in bread, and as speculation grew 
prices rose and fell in an abnormal manner. Thus 
we find that, in the year that witnessed the 
accession of Victoria to the throne, the price of 
corn so fluctuated that the sliding scale of taxes 
underwent thirty variations in the space of eleven 
months. 

After the masses of England had become infected 
with the spirit of unrest and a great new hope that 
seemed to fill the air began to breed discontent with 
present conditions, after workmen in the great facto- 
ries or on the highways began to gather in knots 
and discuss the better time coming, after each man 
began to think for himself and the literature of 
revolution found its way into well-nigh every hamlet 
in Europe,* it was to be expected that the new 
spirit, embodying the yearnings of millions and the 
higher and newer ideals of justice and of right, 
should crystallize round some great question, or fol- 
low the banner on which some slogan of promise 
was emblazoned. 

Thus we can easily understand how the repeal of 
the Corn Laws readily became a popular issue or 

* Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, in his romance entitled " My Novel," 
gives us in the character of the tinker Sprott a vivid picture of a class 
of men who went from town to town during this period, leaving a trail 
of revolutionary literature wherever they journeyed. 

75 



How England Adverted a Revolution of Force 

rallying point. The leaders of the Anti-Corn- Law 
League were carrying on a warfare against monopoly, 
and it was by no means difficult to convince a man 
that laws which made a class — and a relatively small 
class — rich at the expense of the many were bad, 
provided he did not belong to the protected class. 
The monopoly was in one of the greatest necessities 
of life. The " tax on bread " had an ugly sound. 
It was something that men instinctively objected 
to when the question was squarely put to them, 
even though they could not follow an argu- 
ment, and though an ethical question might have 
little or no attraction for them. It was among 
all the questions of the time the one best calcu- 
lated to arouse the enthusiasm of the more con- 
servative among the reformers, who, while shrink- 
ing from force or the thought of revolution, had 
yet so come under the dominant influence of the 
age as to feel that the hour had arrived when the 
nation must go forward. 

The Corn Laws stood for special privilege, stood 
for monopoly and class legislation, by which the few 
acquired wealth that it could not be truthfully said 
was earned ; and this acquisition was made at the 
expense of those who toiled long and laboriously. 
Hence these laws were at once oppressive or burden- 
some in their operation, and essentially unjust in 

76 



History of the Corn Laws 

character. They restricted rightful freedom of trade, 
and were totally at variance with the larger vision of 
the. rights of man that had burst upon the conscious- 
ness of the age. These were the strong points that 
even the dullest plodders could understand, and 
with these points it is easy to see how the Anti- 
Corn-Law League came to be so tremendous a 
power, even when pitted against the wealth of the 
realm, against the great opinion-forming influences 
of society, against the press, the church, and the 
governing classes. 



77 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANTI- CORN -LAW LEAGUE 

What it Accomplished — Its Opponents — Later a Class-movement 
— Purity of Leaders — Story of the Movement — Richard Cobden 
— John Bright — Dark Days and Cobden' s Faith. 



1 



"^ H E memorable Anti-Corn- Law move- 
ment is one of the most thrilling and 
instructive passages in modern history. 
Its success unquestionably saved England from a 
bloody revolution, and — what is still more important 
— the educational agitation carried on by the League 
materially furthered the nation in its progress toward 
freedom. It was largely through this movement 
that the republican ideal became fixed in the popular 
imagination ; since 1 846 the general trend of the 
nation has been toward broader freedom and juster 
conditions, while the spirit of the government has 
become more and more democratic. 

The story of the rise, progress and success of the 
Anti-Corn-Law and Free-Trade crusade rightly 
demands the careful consideration of patriotic citi- 
zens ; for we have too few instances of successful 

78 



The Anti- Corn -Law League 

revolutions accomplished without force or blood- 
shed, and still rarer have been the cases where the 
governing classes have failed to retard the onward 
movement of the larger spirit of freedom and of jus- 
tice born in the stress of the revolutionary agitation. 
It required a man of great faith to look con- 
fidently forward to the success of the issues for 
which the League strove. For several years after 
its organization it had to meet the strenuous oppo- 
sition of the Tories, the indifference and (as was 
more common) the open hostility of the Whigs or 
Liberals, and the bitter opposition of the Chartists. 
Thus, on the one hand, there were the great landed 
interests representing untold wealth largely depend- 
ing upon the maintenance of the Corn Laws ; and, 
on the other, there was the large and rapidly increas- 
ing number who had accepted the new political 
programme of Chartism. The latter regarded the 
Anti-Corn-Law League with great distrust, when 
they were not openly hostile. Many of their more 
thoughtful leaders believed that at best the repeal of 
the obnoxious laws would prove merely a palliative 
measure, and would retard the extension of manhood 
suffrage — something that they regarded as of incom- 
parably greater moment than the tax on grain. 
Others (and among them not a few Chartist leaders), 
after the persecutions by the government, and the 

79 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

indiflference to the cry of the poor manifested by 
both parties, had become convinced that the only 
hope of the triumph of fundamental reform meas- 
ures, such as would effect a permanent relief for the 
wretched workers, lay in a forcible revolution.* 

While the Anti-Corn-Law agitation was in the 
beginning a movement due largely to the misery of 
the poor who were suffering from a great, oppressive 
and legally-protected monopoly, and while many of 
its pioneer apostles were men like the Hon. Charles 
Pelham Villiers, M.P., wholly disinterested patriots 
moved purely by love of justice and hatred of 

* Sentiments similar to those expressed by Ebenezer Elliott in his 
doleful "Ode to Victoria" were echoed by thousands of persons who, 
under ordinary circumstances, would have shrunk in horror from the 
thought of a revolution by force ; but, like the Sheffield poet, they had 
come to regard all measures looking toward a peaceable solution as 
chimerical In his ode, it will be remembered, Elliott refers to the 
queen as "cypress-crowned" and a "Queen of new-made graves" 
(a reference to the deaths resulting from the Canadian revolution). 
The following lines from this poem may be said to express the senti- 
ment of a large and growing body of Chartists, after the government 
.■began to break up their public meetings and to imprison their leaders : 

"Here, too, oh Queen, thy woe-worn people feel 

The load they bear is more than they can bear; 
Beneath it twenty million workers reel. 
While fifty thousand idlers rob and giare. 
And mock the sufferings which they yet may share. 

" The Drama soon will end ; four acts are passed, 
The curtain rises o'er embracing foes. 
But each dark smiter hugs his dagger fast, 

While Doom prepares his match and waits the closet- 
Queen of the Earthquake! wouldst thou win or lose?" 
So 



The Anti- Corn -Law League 

oppression, later, when the agitation had become 
active, aggressive and formidable, it cannot be denied 
that it became a class-movement directed against a 
class-interest. The manufacturers, who furnished 
the greater part of the money for the educational 
agitation that revolutionized the thought and quick- 
ened the conscience of the nation, were doubtless 
actuated largely by self-interest. 

Yet between the two class-movements there was 
this marked difference : The Corn Laws were in 
the line of restriction ; they abridged the rightful 
freedom of the people that the wealth of the few 
might be augmented, and in so doing they operated 
so as to increase the misery and suffering of millions 
of Englishmen, even causing starvation and death. 
On the other hand, the League fought for a whole- 
some freedom ; not only was its cause fundamentally 
just, but it made for the prosperity, the comfort and 
the happiness of the masses, and therefore it was 
working for the well-being of the nation. 

Mr. Morley well observes, in discussing this 
phase of the agitation, that : " The important fact 
was that the class-interest of the manufacturers and 
merchants happened to fall in with the good of the 
rest of the community ; while the class-interest 
against which they were going up to do battle was 
an uncompensated burden on the whole common- 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

wealth. Besides this, it has been observed on a 
hundred occasions in history, that a good cause 
takes on in its progress larger and unforseen ele- 
ments, and these in their turn bring out the nobler 
feelings of the best among its soldiers. So it was 
here. The class-interest widened into the conscious- 
ness of a commanding national interest. In raising 
the question of the bread-tax, and its pestilent 
effects on their own trade and on the homes of 
their workmen, the Lancashire men were involun- 
tarily opening the whole question of the condition 
of England." * 

There is something at once amazing, pathetic, 
and amusing in the "unctuous rectitude" of the 
defenders of the Corn Laws when they lifted their 
hands in horror at the sordid selfishness of the 
manufacturers who were seeking the repeal of those 
class-laws. The advocates of the landed interests 
were shocked beyond measure to find the designing 
manufacturers seeking to advance their interests by 
unmasking the essential injustice of the Corn Laws 
and showing how, by their oppressions, the workers 
were compelled to pay high prices for bread and to 
receive low wages, while the enforced idleness of 
thousands was due chiefly to the stagnation in manu- 
facture and trade that was another result of the 

*John Morley, "Life of Richard Cobden," p. 17. 

82 



T^he Anti- Corn-Law League 

Chinese-wall of protection built by the gentry for 
their own enrichment. To read the Tory press of 
the time one would almost feel that the beneficiaries 
of the Corn Laws were about the only thoroughly 
disinterested citizens of the realm. 

The Anti-Corn-Law League, however, set at work 
to accomplish the repeal of the unjust statutes. Its 
leaders were men of the highest moral rectitude. 
Indeed, had their greed for gain or their desire for 
self-advancement been paramount with the moving 
spirits, it is doubtful whether they would ever have 
succeeded with such opposition as confronted them 
at every point. Only that moral enthusiasm which 
is born on the highest plane of human emotion, 
only that disinterested passion for justice, for free- 
dom and for human happiness which makes men 
prophets and apostles in a great cause, could have 
proved invincible, or at least could have effected a 
peaceable revolution in less than ten years. 

The story of the Anti-Corn-Law movement is 

briefly as follows : On the evening of the eighteenth 

of September, 1838, a company of fifty earnest men 

met in Manchester and formed themselves into an 

association for promoting the principles of free 

trade. This body was the forerunner of the famous 

League. With the formation of that organization 

an active and aggressive campaign was begun. The 

83 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

thoughtful and able A. W. Paulton was employed 
to deliver lectures in the manufacturing centers. 
This was the starting-point of a memorable cam- 
paign of education that had no fellow in the history 
of the last century. 

The ground having been broken in many of 
the most populous cities, the association took the 
next step forward. In December, the Manchester 
chamber of commerce passed a resolution declaring 
that in its opinion " the great and peaceful principle 
of Free Trade, on the broadest scale, is the only 
security for our manufacturing prosperity and the 
welfare of every portion of the community." A few 
days later an address was sent to all the munici- 
palities where the new economic agitation had been 
begun, urging the immediate formation of associ- 
ations for persistently and effectively pushing for- 
ward the educational campaign. Next a league of 
the cities was proposed; and on January 22, 1839, 
a great public dinner was held in Manchester, which 
was attended by over eight hundred delegates from 
various cities and towns. There were present six 
members of the House of Commons. On the 
opening of Parliament, about a week later, three 
hundred of these delegates repaired to London, and 
at a meeting held at that time the name Anti-Corn- 
Law League was assumed by the organization that 

84 



The Anti- Corn-Law League 

was destined to accomplish so much within the next 
eight years. 

The press of the kingdom, with but few excep- 
tions, was closed to the League. Tories and Chartists 
vied with each other in bitterness against it — one 
party because the League was too revolutionary, 
the other because it was not revolutionary enough. 
The Whig and Liberal papers studied the ministry. 
Lord Melbourne had recently declared that the idea 
of the repeal of the Corn Laws was madness. 
Hence, taking their cue from the government, the 
majority of these representative journals either 
opposed the reformers, or else were indifferent, or 
too timid to give them a hearing. This, of course, 
made the outlook peculiarly gloomy; but the League, 
nothing daunted, outlined and matured the pro- 
gramme for an educational agitation. *' They issued 
pamphlets by hundreds of thousands, and sent 
lecturers all over the country explaining the prin- 
ciples of Free Trade. A gigantic propaganda of 
Free-Trade opinions was called into existence. 
Money was raised by the holding of bazaars in 
Manchester and London, and by calling for sub- 
scriptions. A bazaar in Manchester brought in ten 
thousand pounds." * 

* McCarthy, "History of Our Own Times," Am. ed., vol. I., 

p. 212. 

8S 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

The mass meetings now held throughout England 
were phenomenal in character, resembling religious 
revival meetings in the deep enthusiasm and the 
profound moral feeling that pervaded them. * 
Among the speakers usually present were Daniel 
O'Connell, who gave his enthusiastic aid to the 
movement, Cobden, Bright, Paulton, and Villiers. 

The leaders and the speakers of the movement 
became veritable apostles of the new social gospel. 
They believed most sincerely in the righteousness, 
in the justice, and in the morality of their cause. 
They consecrated their lives to the movement with 
the same moral fervor that had marked the most 

* There were several things that increased the general discontent 
and favored organized movement for repeal at this time. Mr. Morleyj, 
in his admirable "Life of Richard Cobden," observes: 

"The price of wheat had risen to seventy-seven shillings in the 
August of 1838; there was every prospect of a wet harvesting ; the 
revenue was declining ; deficit was becoming a familiar word ; pauperism 
was increasing; and the manufacturing population of Lancashire were 
finding it impossible to support themselves, because the landlords, and 
the legislation of a generation of landlords before them, insisted on 
keeping the first necessity of life at an artificially high rate. Yet, easy 
as it is now to write the explanation contained in the last few words, 
comparatively few men had at that time seized the truth of it. The 
explanation was in the stage of a vague general suspicion rather than 
the definite perception of a precise cause. Men are so engaged by the 
homely pressure of each day as it comes, and the natural solicitudes of 
common life are so instant, that a bad institution or a monstrous piece 
of misgovernment is always endured in patience for many years after 
the remedy has been urged on public attention. No cure is considered 
with an accurate mind until the evil has become too sharp to be borne, 
or its whole force and weight brought irresistibly before the world by 
its more ardent, penetrative, and indomitable spirits." (Page 18.) 

86 



The Anti- Corn -Law League 

sincere and devoted apostles of religion in the virgin 
days of the church. 

It was an age of tracts. Every unpopular cause, 
finding the door of the public press closed, resorted 
to pamphlets and leaflets ; and the League, having 
no access to the great journals, secured printing- 
presses and, in addition to issuing their organ the 
"Anti-Corn-Law Circular," afterwards called " The 
League," began deluging the nation with tracts and 
leaflets, many of them short and epigrammatic, 
some in the form of fables, others in that of stories, 
some of questions and answers, but all written in 
such a manner as to appeal to the simplest mind. 
Every person attending a meeting received several 
brief tracts, some one of which was, in a large pro- 
portion of the cases, pretty sure to carry conviction. 

In the League, as is always the case in such 
associations, the active work was carried on by a few 
persons ; but these men were a host in themselves, 
the three chief spirits being Richard Cobden, John 
Bright, and George Wilson. The latter was chair- 
man of the League and a man of great executive 
ability. The two men, however, who towered above 
all others in the Anti-Corn-Law and Free-Trade 
struggle were Cobden and Bright. Each in a vital 
way complemented the other, though of the two 
Cobden was the leader. He had entered upon the 

87 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

crusade before his friend, driven into it indeed by 
that overmastering moral compulsion which, with 
certain choice natures, is supreme. As St. Paul on 
his way to Damascus had fallen into the light and 
risen a just man, so Cobden had been overpowered 
by the ethical import of the movement that had 
at first appealed chiefly to his business interests 
and his judgment ; until for the cause, when its 
success came to demand his close attention, he 
neglected all private matters and personal aflfairs, 
even at the cost of a splendid business, beggaring 
himself that the people, and especially the needy, 
might be blessed. 

Richard Cobden was the son of a poor farmer. 
On the death of his father, he accepted a position in 
a warehouse in London owned by an uncle. Later 
he engaged in business for himself in a cotton-print 
factory in Manchester. His school education was 
very limited ; but he was an omnivorous reader, and, 
as he chose his books with rare judgment and thor- 
oughly mastered all in them that seemed to him 
worth remembering, he came to be far more broadly 
cultured than were or are many college-bred men, 
even from the point of view of book-learning. But 
his education was by no means confined to books. 
No man of our time has studied men more thor- 
oughly or to better purpose than did he. The 



The Anti-Corn-Law League 

investigation of social and economic conditions, and 
of their relation to the individual and to the State, 
was supremely fascinating to him. He traveled 
largely, in the interest of his business and partly 
for recreation and health, over England, America, 
France, Switzerland, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and 
elsewhere ; and everywhere he carried on his pene-. 
trating study of man and of his relation to the State 
and to civilization. 

Mr. Cobden's travels served to confirm his views- 
touching the beneficence of free trade, the criminality 
of war, and the possibility of nations who faithfully 
set at work to arrive at justice for all, coming 
together in a spirit of brotherhood. Nothing seemed 
to impress him more painfully while abroad than 
the large numbers of men who were withdrawn 
from productive work or industry to serve in the 
vast armies that burdened all Christian nations. 
He viewed with something akin to horror the 
spectacle of hundreds of thousands of men, in the 
prime of a splendid vigor, who should have enriched 
and blessed civilization, but who were withdrawn 
from all that was in a true sense productive and,, 
armed with murderous weapons, were engaged in 
watching each other over the national borders. 
Who supported these men ? The toilers, who were 
thus oppressed and robbed of what should havC; 

89 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

been theirs. And what was the influence on the 
non-productive hfe ? It could not be other than 
morally enervating. All this and more was set forth 
with great clearness and power by this young man, 
who thus early in life appealed to public opinion for 
general disarmament. Few men of the past one 
hundred years have entertained such genuine faith 
in freedom as did Richard Cobden. In his addresses 
he never tired of quoting these well-known lines of 
Cowper, as a confirmation of the clear and logical 
arguments that had preceded them : 

"'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower 
Of fleeting life its luster and perfume, 
And we are weeds without it. All constraint 
Except what wisdom lays on evil men 
Is evil." 

Cobden possessed the deep human sympathy of 

Whittier, of Phillips, and of Garrison, and was more 

sensitive in nature than was perhaps any other great 

agitator of his century. He shrank from hurting 

men's feelings. The interesting essayist, Walter 

Bagehot, aptly observes that : " Mr. Cobden had a 

delicate fear of offending other men's opinions. He 

dealt with them tenderly. He did not like to have 

his own creed coarsely attacked, and he did — as he 

could not help doing — as he would be done by. 

He never attacked any man's creed in any way 

90 



mie Anti- Corn -Law League 

except by what he in his best conscience thought 
the fairest and justest argument. . . . He never 
spoke ill of anyone. He arraigned principles, but 
not persons. . . . There is hardly a word of his 
to be found perhaps which even now the Recording 
Angel would blot out." * 

Of but few other agitators on the list of the noble 
and consecrated who have given their all for a once 
forlorn cause could such a statement as that be 
truthfully made. "He was a man," says Samuel 
Smiles, " of unswerving industry and of spotless 
integrity. In qualities of head and heart we believe 
him to be excelled by few men. His conscientious- 
ness was of the highest order. Though he had 
much political enmity to encounter, no one ever 
charged him with doing a mean thing or prostituting 
the great power he unquestionably wielded to sub- 
serve any personal or selfish end." f He was per- 
haps the most persuasive orator that the England 
of the last century produced. His honesty, his 
sincerity and his moral fervor were united with one 
of the most logical minds of modern times. He 
was apt at illustration, and possessed the rare ability 
of making any subject he discussed clear to all his 

*Bagehot's Works, Am. ed., vol. III., "Essay on Cobden," 
pp. 416, 414, and 415. 

•["Brief Biographies," Am. ed., p. 115. 

91 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

hearers. Thus, by convincing the brain and touch- 
ing the heart and all the nobler emotions, he 
was irresistible when his auditors were open to 
conviction. 

Such, then, was the young man who in 1839 
entered the great Anti-Corn-Law fight with the 
firm determination to consecrate his life to the 
cause till it was won. He soon became the 
strongest individuality in the movement, which 
gradually attracted to itself many of the best minds 
of the time. 

Mr. Cobden s companion-in-arms after the sum- 
mer of 1 841 was also a man of great ability 
and of strong individuality, possessing a person- 
ality even more striking than his own. John 
Bright was led into the conflict, and through it 
into Parliament, by the irresistibly persuasive power 
of his friend, at a moment when he himself 
felt alone in the world ; and though, like his 
proselyter, he threw all the power and energy of 
his nature into the work, it is probable that the 
cause itself would not have lifted him out of 
the even tenor of his routine life, had it not been 
for the strange circumstance that changed the 
whole course of his career. 

Bright was born in 181 1. His father was a cot- 
ton spinner and manufacturer, who after his son 

92 



T^he Anti- Corn -Law League 

had enjoyed the ordinary school advantages of the 
day placed him at the age of fifteen in a counting- 
house, where except during a brief visit to the 
Continent he remained for twelve years, devoting 
his entire time to business. In 1839 he married; 
two years later his wife died. 

It was in this dark hour, grief and desolation 
his companions, all his rosy dreams of life dissi- 
pated, that Cobden came to him and from the 
corpse of his young wife turned his eyes to the 
thousands of other homes in old England where 
at that time other wives, just as dear to their 
loving ones as his had been to him, were even 
then dying. Their lots however were far different 
from that so lately enjoyed by Mrs. Bright, for in 
these homes and hovels grim want rendered it 
impossible for love to give the sick the simple 
food, the attention and the help that might bring 
renewed health, but lacking which the sufferers 
were slowly wasting away. " There are," said 
Mr. Cobden, *' thousands of homes in England 
at this moment, where wives, mothers, and children 
are dying of hunger. Come with me, and we will 
never rest till the Corn Laws are repealed." A 
solemn covenant was thereupon made ; for the sim- 
ple, earnest and eloquent appeal of Mr. Cobden 
moved all that was best in the grief-stricken young 

93 



How England Averted a Revolutioji of Force 

man. Henceforth the die was cast, John Bright 
went forth to battle for the weak — and truer knight 
earth has never known. 

Bright fought for justice, for freedom, for peace, 
and for the higher law. He was one of the noblest 
characters whose presence dignified and added to the 
true greatness of the nineteenth century. He came 
of Quaker stock. His ancestors had been impris- 
oned and had suffered much from the dominant 
Christian church for their opinions' sake. He was 
a man of simple and sublime faith, and of large and 
generous views, at a time when skepticism on the 
one hand and reactionary religion on the other were 
everywhere in evidence. He was whole-souled in 
his devotion to whatever he conceived to be right. 
" He was ever ready," said Mr. Gladstone, " to lay 
his popularity as a sacrifice upon the altar of duty." 
Never in his long, stormy, and illustrious career 
did he hesitate in unswervingly following the dictates 
of conscience, though at times he knew full well 
that to do so meant the sacrifice of his seat in 
Parliament, the bitter abuse of the press, and the 
censure of his friends. On one occasion he said : 
" I will not do that which my conscience tells 
me is wrong, to gain the huzzas of thousands 
or the daily praise of all the papers which come 
from the press. I will not avoid doing what I 

94 



The Anti- Corn -Law League 

think is right, though it should draw on me the 
whole artillery of libels, — all that malice can invent 
or credulity swallow." 

Bright's love and reverence for right, for justice, 
for peace, and for the moral law were so great that 
they lifted him above all thought of popularity, or 
of what men might say of him. War and slavery 
were abhorrent to him. When England embarked 
in the Crimean struggle he raised his voice in pro- 
test and arraigned the nation before the bar of the 
higher law, though in so doing he knew that he 
courted defeat. When our great war of the Rebel- 
lion broke out, Mr. Gladstone reflected the general 
sentiment of England in his strong sympathy with 
the South ; but here again the voice of Bright rang 
out clear and strong in defence of freedom. In 
1862, in the closing words of one of the most elo- 
quent addresses ever delivered in Parliament, he 
thus referred to our republic : " The leaders of 
this revolt propose this monstrous thing, — that 
over a territory forty times as large as England 
the blight and curse of slavery shall be forever 
perpetuated. I cannot believe, for my part, that 
such a fate will ever befall that fair land, stricken 
though it now is with the ravages of war. I can- 
not believe that civilization, in its journey with 
the sun, will sink into endless night. I have 

95 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

another and a far brighter vision before my gaze. 
It may be but a vision, but I will cherish it. 
I see one vast confederation, stretching from the 
frozen north in unbroken line to the glowing 
south, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic 
westward to the calmer waters of the Pacific 
main ; and I see one people, and one language, 
and one law, and one faith, and over all that 
wide continent the home of freedom, and a 
refuge for the oppressed of every race and of 
every clime." 

" For many years of his life," says Archdeacon 
Farrar, "he had the honour — I say quite deliberately, 
the honour — of being one of the best hated men in 
the country. For fully half his life he enjoyed the 
beatitude of malediction. It is an honour which he 
shared with many of God's noblest heroes and 
sweetest saints. It is an honour which he shared 
with martyrs and prophets, and with the great 
benefactors of mankind, with the apostles, with 
Christ himself. It is an honour which every man 
shall gain who refuses to swim with the stream, 
who refuses to answer the multitude according 
to their idols." * 

" For twenty-five years," said Mr. Bright on 

* Frederic W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S., "Social and Present-Day 
Questions," p. 318. 

96 



'T^he Anti- Corn -Law League 

one occasion, " I have stood before great meet- 
ings of my countrymen, pleading only for justice. 
During that time, as you know, I have endured 
measureless insult and passed through hurricanes 
of abuse." 

I know of no other English statesman of the 
nineteenth century who, at all times and under all 
circumstances, held so steadfastly to the highest 
moral ideals as did John Bright. His thought 
was habitually lofty, and all political questions 
were judged by him from the standpoint of moral 
right. To him whatever was morally wrong could 
not be politically right ; to decide his action on 
any political question or measure proposed, it 
was necessary for him merely to settle its ethical 
bearing. " There is," he declared, " no perma- 
nent greatness to a nation except it be based upon 
morality. . . . We have the unchangeable and 
eternal principles of the moral law to guide us, and 
only so far as we walk by that guidance can 
we be permanently a great nation or our people 
a happy people." He held that there was some- 
thing far more august than parliament or monarch, 
and that was " the tribunal which God has set 
up in the consciences of men." " I do not care," 
he said at one time, " for military greatness or 
military renown. I care for the condition of the 

7 97 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

people among whom I live. Palaces, baronial 
castles, great halls, stately mansions do not make a 
nation. The nation in every country dwells in the 
cottage, and, unless the light of your constitution 
can shine there, rely upon it that you have yet to 
learn the duties of government." 

As an orator John Bright had but few peers, if in- 
deed he had one, in the Parliament of his land. He 
was slow of speech in the opening remarks ; every 
word seemed carefully chosen and uttered with great 
deliberation, and often many were greatly disap- 
pointed when he began to speak ; but as he pro- 
ceeded, and almost before they became aware of the 
fact, they found themselves lifted as it were out of 
their self-consciousness and swept onward with 
the current of the orator's thoughts. One of 
the most scholarly and eloquent clergymen of 
England bears testimony to the oratorical powers 
of John Bright thus : 

<'I have heard him when, in English of matchless strength and 
matchless simplicity, and in a voice which sometimes seemed to breathe 
through silver, and rang anon with the trumpet tones of scorn and 
indignation, he stood before vast audiences, playing on their emotions 
as on some mighty instrument. I have seen him now sweeping them 
into stormy sympathy before the strong wind of his passion } now 
holding them hushed as an infant at its mother's breast; now making 
them break into radiancy of laughter ; now whitening their upturned 
faces with sympathetic tears ; sometimes even lifting them to their feet 

98 



The Anti- Corn-Law League 

in a burst of uncontrollable and spontaneous enthusiasm. I have heard 
him rain down the large blows of his impassioned rhetoric, as when a 
smith brings down his sledge-hammer on the glowing anvil, forging 
the plastic iron into what he will. And never have I heard him abuse 
for base or personal ends this mighty power." * 

It would be difficult to estimate the influence that 
this great commoner wielded for the higher morality, 
for freedom, for justice, and for human rights ; cer- 
tain it is that he strengthened the conscience of 
Parliament as did no other statesman of his day. 
His splendid faith in the power of right often 
seemed strange enough to policy-mongering oppor- 
tunists, who were unable to understand how a man 
could deliberately throw away his chance of a 
return to the House by bravely defending what 
he believed to be right, but what he also knew 
to be unpopular ! 

It is not difficult to realize how two such men as 
Richard Cobden and John Bright awakened the 
sleeping conscience of old England and rendered 
the repeal of the unjust Corn Laws inevitable. 
Men who believe in the power of truth, of justice 
and of morality, as did they, carry conviction when 
an army who speak only to the intellect fail to 
attract or move. " How is it," asked Mr. Bright, 
" that any great thing is accomplished ? By love 

* Farrar's "Social and Present-Day Questions,'" p. 312. 

99 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

of justice, by constant devotion to a great cause, 
and by an unfaltering faith that what is right will in 
the end succeed." 

Though the agitation was prosecuted with great 
vigor, there were from the first until the triumph 
in '46 many dark days. Time and again, after 
the League had become convinced that victory 
was almost at its door, the action of the min- 
istry, or some turn in political affairs, dashed all 
their hopes. 

The fate common to all great fundamental move- 
ments that concern liberty and justice for the masses 
was perhaps never more clearly illustrated than 
in the Anti-Corn-Law and Free-Trade campaign 
between '39 and '46. 

In i84i-'42, and in almost every year thereafter, 
the League was alternately buoyed up with the con- 
fident expectation of early victory, and cast down to 
the depths by the apparent hopelessness of the 
crusade ; though it should be observed that with 
Cobden, with Bright, and with Wilson, who may 
be called eminently the apostles of the movement, 
discouragement was in all instances of but temporary 
duration. They had gone into the battle deter- 
mined to know no such word as fail ; they were 
seeking no personal advancement ; and they were 
ready to sacrifice all personal interests for the cause 



Tl'he Anti- Corn-Law League 

the triumph of which they believed was demanded 
by every consideration of wisdom, of justice, and 
of human progress. 

Cobden's faith in the power of a righteous cause 
has seldom been equalled in modern times. Timid 
friends no less than confident foes were continually 
declaring that England would never open her mar- 
kets to free grain, because her landlords and agri- 
culturists were " too mighty to be overthrown, or 
even shaken." 

It was pointed out time and again that in Parlia- 
ment the landed class was overwhelmingly in the 
majority. And not only that, they were incom- 
parably the stronger financially ; it was shown that 
all the liberal contributions made by the manu- 
facturers and others interested in the repeal of the 
Corn Laws, were as a drop in the bucket when 
compared with the wealth arrayed against the 
reformers. It was shown further that the press was 
with the Opposition. Conservatism and custom 
were on its side. In fact, the spectacle but too 
plainly suggested the one-sided duel between David 
and Goliath ; only, as in olden times so now, the 
David had the superb faith in his own invincibility 
so long as he was armed with truth and with justice, 
and his foot was on the path of Progress. 

Cobden insisted that, when the reason of the 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

nation had been convinced and its conscience 
aroused, all the powers of intrenched capital and 
conservatism would be powerless to prevent the 
realization of the public demands. England was 
not France, and her history in the past justified his 
views. He believed that, when their cause could 
once be fairly placed before the bar of public 
opinion, victory was assured. He asked : " How 
every social change and every religious change had 
been accomplished, otherwise than by an appeal to 
public opinion. How had they secured the penny 
postage ? Not by sitting still and quietly wishing 
for it, but by a number of men stepping out and 
spending their money and giving their time agitating 
the community." * 

* Morley's "Life of Cobden," p. 19. 



CHAPTER V. 

HUMANITARIAN SPIRIT IN LITERATURE OF 

THE PERIOD AND SOME THINKERS 

WHO WROUGHT FOR PROGRESS 

Political Influences not Alone at Work — A Wave of Human 
Sympathy — Bulwer's " King Arthur " — Ebenezer Elliott — 
Carlyle — Dickens — Elizabeth Barrett — Hood — Mackay — 
Massey — Maurice — Charles Kingsley — Mazzini — Youth a 
Nation's Hope. 

THOUGH the ruling spirits in both of the 
great pohtical parties, a large majority of 
the aristocracy, and the vast preponder- 
ance of wealth, of conventional society and of the 
Established Church were ranged on the side of the 
old regime in its opposition to the reforms that were 
pressing for governmental recognition, there were 
other influences of which the politicians took little 
account, but which were nevertheless eflfectively 
working for progress by awakening the sense of jus- 
tice in the heart of the people. This, when once 
aroused, becomes an important factor in the war- 
fare between an old order and the new ideals. 

103 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

To understand something of these currents that 
fed the noble discontent of the time, it will be nec- 
essary for us to consider now the aggressively moral 
or what may be called the conscience literature of 
the day. And in our survey of this field we must 
give especial attention to the writings that came 
from and to those that particularly interested the 
poor and the people of moderate means ; for, as 
John Bright well said, " Palaces, baronial castles, 
great halls, stately mansions do not make a nation. 
The nation, in every country, dwells in the cottage." 

During the 'thirties and 'forties of the last cen- 
tury we find men and women in almost every walk 
of life, but notably those who had themselves suf- 
fered much, contributing in an important way to the 
conscience-force at work in the land. It was indeed 
a time of moral awakening such as England has 
rarely seen. "A great wave,'* says Mr. Morley, " of 
humanity, of benevolence, of desire for improve- 
ment — a great wave of social sentiment, in short — 
poured itself among all who had the faculty of large 
and disinterested thinking. The political spirit was 
abroad in its most comprehensive sense, the desire 
of strengthening society by adapting it to better 
intellectual ideals, and enriching it from new 
resources of moral power. A feeling for social 

regeneration, under what its apostles conceived to be 

104 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

a purer spiritual guidance, penetrated ecclesiastical 
common-rooms no less than it penetrated the manu- 
facturing districts. To the fermentation of those 
years Carlyle contributed the vehement apostrophes 
of * Chartism ' and ' Past and Present,' glowing with 
eloquent contempt for the aristocratic philosophy 
of treadmills^ gibbets, and thirty-nine Acts of Par- 
liament * for the shooting of partridges alone,' but 
showing no more definite way for national redemp- 
tion than lay through the too vague words of Edu- 
cation and Emigration." * 

On every hand the voice of progress was heard in 
the literature of the period ; songs, poems, essays, 
sermons, and stories pervaded with ethical enthu- 
siasm were as rivulets, brooks, and rivers feeding 
the swelling flood of humanitarianism. Even con- 
ventional and aristocratic writers, who were tempera- 
mentally sensitive and receptive, came under the 
irresistible sway of the spirit of reform. 

Thus conservative Lord Lytton, with his horror 
of Chartism and his wholly mistaken views of the 
aims and character of Socialism, succumbed never- 
theless to the spirit of the age in a remarkable 
degree ; a striking illustration of which can be 
found in his long poem " King Arthur," which he 
always held was his greatest work. " King Arthur "" 

* Morley's "Life of Cobden," p. lo. 
105 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

was written in the 'forties of the nineteenth cen- 
tury ; and, though the subject matter of the poem 
belonged to a far-away legendary period, the author 
could not refrain from introducing into his work a 
vivid and tragic picture of the triumph of the spirit 
of commercialism over the higher and nobler senti- 
ments in man. Without understanding the charac- 
ter of the time in which Bulwer wrote his " King 
Arthur," it would be difficult to account for such 
stanzas as the following, which, it will be remem- 
bered, occur where the Genius reveals the future to 
the King: 

"Slow fades the pageant, and the Phantom stage 
As slowly fill'd with squalid, ghastly forms; 
Here, over fireless hearths cower'd shivering Age 

And blew with feeble breath dead embers ; — ^storms 
Hung in the icy welkin ; and the bare 
Earth lay forlorn in Winter's charnel air. 



*'No careless Childhood laugh'd disportingly. 

But dwarf 'd, pale mandrakes with a century's gloom 

On infant brows, beneath a poison-tree 

With skeleton fingers plied a ghastly loom, 

Mocking in cynic jest life's gravest things ; 

They wove gay King-robes, muttering ' What are Kings ? ' 

<*And through that dreary Hades to and fro. 
Stalk' d all unheeded the Tartarean Guests ; 
Grim Discontent that loathes the Gods, and Woe 
io6 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

Clasping dead infants to her milkless breasts; 
And madding Hate, and Force with iron heel. 
And voiceless Vengeance sharp' ning secret steel. 



•* ' Can such things be below and God above ? ' 

Falter' d the King; — replied the Genius — 'Nay, 
This is the state the sages most approve ; 

This is Man civilized! — ^the perfect sway 
Of Merchant Kings; the ripeness of the Art 
Which cheapens men — the Elysium of the Mart.' " 

It is not, however, among the conventional writers 
that we must look for the conscience-force in the 
Hterature that helped on so powerfully the reform 
victories of this period. The men and women who 
in literature wrought for social righteousness were 
often voices crying in the wilderness of a society 
given over to gain. Not infrequently they belonged 
to the very poor. They had suffered much. They 
arraigned society in burning words, becoming the 
articulate voice of millions in misery ; as such they 
were august. Indeed the story of their lives, as 
well as the glowing words that bore the message 
home to the heart of the nation, is instructive, 
inspiring and valuable as helping us to interpret 
aright the age in which they wrought. 

The pioneer of a band of social bards was 

Ebenezer Elliott. He might also be called the 

107 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

John the Baptist of the Anti-Corn-Law crusade ; 
for long before Richard Cobden had stirred the 
reason of England, or the burning eloquence of 
John Bright had touched the hearts of thousands 
who had never before been interested in the moral 
aspects of economic problems, Elliott had arraigned 
the conscience of the nation for permitting the poor 
to starve while the landed classes grew rich by the 
tax on grain. 

It would be difficult to estimate the influence of 
this earnest and sincere poet of the people, whose 
rude and homely phrases were strangely blended 
with elevated moral sentiments and flashes of true 
poetry, suggesting at times the stalwart old prophets 
of Israel whose ringing words in behalf of justice 
still stir the heart of the world. His ethical poetry 
was dominated by " the Eternal Idea of Right " 
(his own synonym for God). He had small regard 
for dilettante rhymesters. " We cannot spare one 
true man from the ranks of thought and progress 
in these distracted times," he was wont to say. The 
thought of the hungry and poor hung over his soul 
like a vast pall. " God," he remarked to a friend 
on one occasion as the two wandered in a rural val- 
ley, " has given us food to eat, and man, the tyrant, 
has taxed it ! and these beautiful birds are singing 
as if there were no sorrow in the world. Ye break 

io8 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

my heart, ye little birds." And as he spoke, his 
friend observed tears brimming in his eyes. His 
" hate," says his biographer, Mr. Phillips, " sprang 
from love ; from the inmost depths of a heart that 
vibrated with sympathy for all that was high and 
dear to man. Hence an act of oppression done to 
the meanest creature, was done to him ... his 
mission . . . was that of a reformer . . . and 
he clothed his message in the forms of poetry, and 
the robes of song, that he might render it attractive 
and successful." ^ 

Ebenezer Elliott came of sturdy Puritan stock. 
His father, an ultra-Calvinist in religion and a 
republican in politics, had scandalized the com- 
munity by his outspoken praise of George Wash- 
ington and the young republic over the sea. He 
was respected, however, in spite of his unpopular 
religious and political " vagaries," as the people 
called them, because of his sterling integrity, of his 
love of justice and fair play, and of his untiring 
industry. He was an iron-founder by trade. The 
poet's mother was a retiring, sensitive woman of 
deep affection and a tender heart that went out in 
love to all who were in sorrow, or in need. Much 
of the boy's time in his earlier years was spent 

* George Searles Phillips, "Memoirs of Ebenezer Elliott," pp. 
31-32. 

109 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

in his father's foundry and the yard adjoining it. 
His love of the beautiful, however, could not 
be destroyed by the unpoetic surroundings. The 
plants, the earth, the sky and whatever was fair to 
look upon were dear to him. When he was very 
small we find him making a little garden in the 
middle of the foundry yard, in which he planted 
mugwort and wormwood, and in the midst of the 
flower-bed he placed a large pan filled with water, 
that he might enjoy the blue sky and the fleecy 
clouds and the growing plants reflected in the water 
below. 

At school young Elliott was accounted very dull, 
and frequently played truant that he might wander 
in the country lanes amid the flowers and the birds. 
From his earliest recollection nature had exerted a 
strange and wonderful spell over his imagination. 
His father, despairing of making a scholar of him, 
set him at work in the foundry ; but the child had 
already learned far more in Nature's vast workshop 
than most boys acquire in a common school, and 
already the poet-soul had been deeply stirred within 
him. 

One day his brother read to him from Thom- 
son's " Seasons." The book was a revelation and 
an inspiration. He took the volume into the gar- 
den to compare the poet's description of certain 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

flowers with the originals, and thenceforth the won- 
ders and beauties of nature began to weave them- 
selves into verses. His limited knowledge now 
troubled him, so he procured a grammar and other 
books and began to master those studies that his 
teachers had vainly striven to inculcate. Patiently 
in his leisure hours he studied the dry text-books 
till he was able to write good English. Meanwhile 
he toiled in his father's foundry without receiving 
wages until he was twenty-three years of age. At 
about that time he married a young woman who 
possessed a considerable fortune. This money 
however was unfortunately invested in a business 
already bankrupt, and for many years the poet 
struggled hopelessly, till at last all his resources 
were exhausted and he was forced to accept tem- 
porary shelter under the roof of his sister-in-law. 

In 1 82 1, when forty years of age, Elliott was able 
to venture again in business. This time the tide 
turned his way ; he prospered, and was soon able to 
hold up his head and look the world squarely in the 
face. But during his adversity he had suffered 
keenly ; the misery of the poor had been borne in 
upon his sensitive imagination with irresistible force. 
He had faced poverty ; he knew what it was to feel 
dependent, and in looking abroad he saw tens of 
thousands of others far worse off than himself, — - 



How Engiajid Averted a devolution of Force 

men and women who were bravely fighting a losing 
battle, who almost constantly felt the gnawing of 
hunger, and with whom the dread of the^ poorhouse 
and a pauper's grave was an ever-present hideous 
nightmare. Thus it is not strange that the songs 
he sung took on a tragic tone, or that justice for 
the poor became the burden of his verse. His 
noblest creation is entitled " The Village Patriarch." 
It abounds in lines of rare beauty, and deserves a 
permanent place among the songs of justice that 
the bards of freedom from time to time have con- 
tributed to the cause of progress. 

Elliott was first brought prominently before the 
literary world through the influence of Lord Lytton 
and of Thomas Carlyle. How truly the message of 
the corn-law rhymer had impressed the latter may 
be inferred from the following summary of his essay 
on " Corn-Law Rhymes," which reveals the author's 
sympathy with the Sheffield poet : 

"The Corn-Law Rhymer has believed, and therefore is again 
believable. He is a Sheffield Worker in brass and iron ; but no 
'Uneducated Poet,' such as dilettante patronage delights to foster. 
He is an earnest, truth-speaking, genuine man. Strong and beautiful 
thoughts are not wanting in him. A life of painfulness, toil, inse- 
curity, scarcity, is endured ; yet he fronts it like a man. Affection 
dwells with Danger, all the holier for the stern environment. Not as a 
rebel does he stand ; yet as a free man, spokesman of free men, not 
far from rebelling against much. He feels deeply the frightful con- 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

dition of our entire social affairs, and sees in Bread-tax the summary 
of all our evils. To the working portion of the aristocracy such a 
voice from their humble working brother will be both welcome and 
instructive. To the idle portion it may be unwelcome enough." 

In the following passages from " Corn-Law 
Rhymes " we see how deeply Carlyle himself had 
been affected by the educational agitation and the 
unrest of the time ; how keenly he felt the misery 
and oppression of the people, and the great peril 
that menaced the nation should it continue to refuse 
justice till free men became degraded by losing their 
high ideals and free spirit, thereby becoming slaves 
in soul as well as in body. In speaking of Elliott 
he says : 

<'He feels, as all men that live must do, the disorganization, and 
hard-grinding, unequal pressure of our Social Affairs. The frightful 
conditions of a Time when public and private Principle, as the word 
was once understood, having gone out of sight, and Self-interest being 
left to plot, and struggle, and scramble, as it could and would. Difficul- 
ties had accumulated till they were no longer to be borne, and the 
spirit that should have fronted and conquered them seemed to have 
forsaken the world ; — when the Rich, as the utmost they could resolve 
on, had ceased to govern, and the Poor, in their fast-accumulating 
numbers, and ever-widening complexities, had ceased to be able to do 
without governing; and now the plan of 'Competition' and '■Laissez- 
faire'' was on every side, approaching its consummation; and each, 
bound-up in the circle of his own wants and perils, stood grimly dis- 
trustful of his neighbour, and the distracted Common-weal was a 
Common-woe, and to all men it became apparent that the end was 
drawing nigh : — all this black aspect of Ruin and Decay, visible 

8 113 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

enough, experimentally known to our Sheffield friend, he calls by the 
name of • Corn-Law,' and expects to be in good part delivered from, 
were the accursed Bread-tax repealed. 



" Mournful enough, that a white European Man must pray wist- 
fully for what the horse he drives is sure of, — that the strain of his 
whole faculties may not fail to earn him food and lodging. Mournful 
that a gallant manly spirit, with an eye to discern the world, a heart to 
reverence it, a hand cunning and willing to labour in it, must be haunted 
with such a fear. The grim end of it all. Beggary ! A soul loathing, 
what true souls ever loathe. Dependence, help from the unworthy to 
help ; yet sucked into the world-whirlpool, — able to do no other : the 
highest in man's heart struggling vainly against the lowest in man's 
destiny. . . . Alas, the Workhouse is the bourne whither all 
these actors and workers are bound ; whence none that has once 
passed it returns ! A bodeful sound, like the rustle of approaching 
world-devouring tornadoes quivers through their whole existence 5 and 
the voice of it is, Pauperism ! The thanksgiving they offer up to 
Heaven is, that they are not yet Paupers ; the earnest cry of their 
prayer is, that * God would shield them from the bitterness of Parish 
Pay.' 

"Meanwhile, is it not frightful as well as mournful to consider 
how the widespread evil is spreading wider and wider ? Most persons, 
who have had eyes to look with, may have verified, in their own circle, 
the statement of this Sheffield Eye-witness, and 'from their own 
knowledge and observation fearlessly declare that the little master- 
manufacturer, that the working man generally, is in a much worse 
condition than he was twenty-five years ago.' Unhappily, the fact 
is too plain ; the reason and scientific necessity of it is too plain. In 
this mad state of things, every new man is a new misfortune 5 every 
new market a new complexity ; the chapter of chances grows ever 
more incalculable ; the hungry gamesters (whose stake is their life) 

114 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

are ever increasing in numbers 5 the world-movement rolls on ; by 
what method shall the weak and help-needing, who has none to help 
him, withstand it ? Alas, how many brave hearts, ground to pieces 
in that unequal battle, have already sunk ! Must it grow worse and 
worse, till the last brave heart is broken in England ; and this same 
'brave Peasantry' has become a kennel of wild-howling, ravenous 
Paupers ? God be thanked ! there is some feeble shadow of hope 
that the change may have begun while it was yet time. You may 
lift the pressure from the free man's shoulders, and bid him go forth 
rejoicing j but lift the slave's burden, he will only wallow the more 
composedly in his sloth : a nation of degraded men cannot be raised 
up, except by what we rightly name a miracle." 

Thomas Carlyle contributed in many ways to the 
moral and social ferment of the period. He ever 
preached the gospel of work. "If you have any- 
thing to do in the world do it " ; this was the bur- 
den of his message. He was preeminently a utili- 
tarian ; but he was also far more. He appreciated 
the seriousness of life. To him duty was divine. 
He had struggled up the mountain, he had con- 
quered ; but only after he had laboriously cHmbed 
over many of those grave difficulties that beset the 
path of the conscientious man, and which at times 
seem almost insurmountable. After his triumph 
he could not remain silent while thousands on every 
hand were living the butterfly life, seemingly ignor- 
ant of the great and solemn responsibilities, the 
wonderful peace and the infinite joy that come to 
those who realize the value and dignity of existence 

"5 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

and act up to the highest vision vouchsafed to them. 
He hated sham and all hollow pretense. " His 
great aim was to call back man to reality." He 
" aroused a self-seeking generation to a higher idea 
of life," and " left an indelible mark on the thought 
of the nineteenth century." * 

Carlyle was born in a humble home in the Scotch 
village of Ecclefechan, on the fourth of December, 
1795. Poor as were his parents, they appreciated 
the importance of education, and gladly made great 
sacrifices that their boy might receive the instruction 
that would some day qualify him to become a min- 
ister in the Kirk of Scotland ; for they were ardent 
Calvinists. At the age of ten, after learning all the 
village schoolmaster could impart, the lad entered 
the academy at Annandale ; thence, at the age of 
fourteen, he went to the university of Edinburgh. 
At that time many of the ambitious ^ and poor 
youths of Scotland while at the university earned 
enough at odd times to pay the rent of their rooms. 
Their parents sent them oatmeal and potatoes on 
which they lived. At intervals their clothes were 
sent for and carefully mended by the tireless and 
devoted mother. It was in this manner that Thomas 
Carlyle went through college. 

At length the hour came when the university 

*May Alden Ward, " Prophets of the Nineteenth Century," p. 7. 
116 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

course was ended. The parents expected the boy 
to enter the ministry, but his heart willed otherwise. 
He was now nineteen years of age, and during his 
studies his intellectual vision had broadened. Many 
things that he had unhesitatingly accepted as a child 
did not commend themselves to his more mature 
intellect. In a word, he felt that he could not con- 
scientiously accept much that a minister of the Kirk 
of Scotland was compelled to subscribe to. 

The conflicting desires on the one hand to please 
his parents and satisfy the expectations of his 
friends, and on the other to be loyal to his own con- 
viction of right, led to one of those intense mental 
conflicts that are apt to trouble sensitive and finely 
strung natures. How real and terrible this battle 
was we may judge from his own words. " I entered 
my chamber," he writes, " and closed the door, and 
around me there came a trooping throng of phan- 
toms dire from the abysmal depth of the nether- 
most perdition. Doubt, fear, unbelief, mockery 
and scoffing were there ; and I wrestled with them 
in agony of spirit. Thus it was for weeks. Whether 
I ate I know not, whether I drank I know not, 
whether I slept I know not. But I know that 
when I came forth again it was with the direful pur- 
suasion that I was the miserable owner of a diaboli- 
cal arrangement called a stomach." 

117 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

This struggle was one of the most momentous of 
Carlyle's life. It involved by no means merely a 
decision affecting a profession, but was rather a bat- 
tle between the light and darkness ; between whether 
he should at all times hold resolutely to his convic- 
tion of right, or should on occasion compromise his 
ideal with ignoble demands ; whether the aim and 
object of his life should be fame, money, place and 
power, or fidelity to truth and to all that was highest 
in his nature. Of his victory, of the conclusion 
finally reached by him and that governed his life, we 
catch a luminous glimpse in these striking words : 

" We are here to do God's will. The only key to a right life is 
self-renunciation. The man who lives for self, who works for selfish 
ends, is a charlatan at bottom, no matter how great his powers. The 
man who lives for self alone has never caught a vision of the true 
meaning and order of the universe. Human life is a solemn thing, — 
an arena wherein God's purpose is to be worked out. I must, with 
open, spiritual vision, behold in this universe, and through it, the 
Mighty All, its Creator, in His beauty and grandeur, humbling the 
small Me into nothingness. His purpose, not mine, shall be carried 
out, for to that end the universe exists. Life shall be a barren, worth- 
less thing for me unless I seek to fall in with God's plan, and do the 
work he has sent me here to do. Ah, then, the torturous pangs of 
disappointed hopes, jealousy, and despair shall be at rest, and I, now 
in harmony with God, can sing at my work, and amid my toil find 
blessed rest. For, what though I fail to reach the mark I set before 
me } what though its immediate results have been small ? The very 
attempt, persevered in, of working out the Divine purpose in my life, 
has made that life a truly noble one. Now, indeed, I am indepen- 

ii8 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

dent of the world's smile or frown, since I am in harmony with God, 
and have His smile as the light of ray life. I have got into the 
blessed region of the 'Everlasting Yea.' And however ill outwardly 
and apparently, all is going well for me inwardly and ultimately." 

Carlyle refused to enter the ministry and for a 
time taught. Next he studied law, but in due time 
renounced that too. At length friends secured him 
work on the "Edinburgh Encyclopaedia." At about 
this time a friend introduced him to Mrs. Welsh 
and her daughter Jenny. Carlyle fell in love with 
the latter, and finally won her consent. The two 
were married, and for a time they almost starved in 
Edinburgh ; for Carlyle was a slow and laborious 
writer. Finally poverty drove them to a little 
moorland farm that Jenny had inherited at Craigen- 
puttoch ; it was a desolate place, fifteen miles from 
a village, and the nearest neighbor more than a mile 
away. Here Carlyle lived for seven years, and here 
he wrote " Sartor Resartus." At length poverty 
drove him from this retreat also, and he journeyed to 
London in search of work. Finally he settled in 
Chelsea,- where he wrote his greatest work, "The 
French Revolution," and many other contributions 
to the permanent literature of the English language, 
while keeping in touch with the progressive move- 
ments of the age and with the leading spirits in 
revolt. 

119 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

Charles Dickens was another thinker who con- 
tributed in no small degree to the humanitarian 
spirit of the time. He was then a young man 
busily engaged in journalism, but whose brain was 
teeming with pictures of social wrong ; he employed 
his leisure moments in writing those marvelous 
stories that portrayed so graphically and terribly 
many of the evils of the day as to force an excla- 
mation of horror from society, the exclamation 
being followed by the interrogation, "Are these 
things true ? " Now, the exclamation and the inter- 
rogation point are the staff and the crook of Pro- 
gress ; when they are once raised, reform soon fol- 
lows. So this strong young man unmasked so 
effectively many of the crying evils suffered by the 
poor that the abolition of some of them became 
comparatively easy. Dickens not only knew that 
the pictures he drew were mainly true, he was able 
to sympathize with the poor ; for he was no stran- 
ger to poverty. He had seen his own father taken 
from their home to prison for debt. The pawn- 
broker was not unknown in his family. His edu- 
cation had been very scanty, and he had known 
what it was to drudge. 

At fifteen years of age Dickens entered an attor- 
ney's office as office-boy. While here he determined 
to become a parliamentary reporter and to enter the 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period' 

field of journalism and literature. The story of his^^ 
struggle and victory, with so meager an educatiors: 
as one of many barriers confronting him, should be ; 
an inspiration to every aspiring youth. It is the 
story of work — of patient, persistent, and energetic 
application. But Dickens had more than an iron 
will ; he had also a strong imagination, and an origi- 
nal, intellect. In a degree almost unique among- 
authors he possessed the noble virtue of human., 
sympathy, which brought him en rapport with the . 
awakening moral enthusiasm of the period. He had 
confronted Poverty and with sinking heart looked^ 
the terror squarely in the face. Hence he could sym- 
pathize with those who suffered from its cruel grasp. 

His life as a reporter brought him in touch 
with the ethical ideals with which the time was rife, 
with the great suffering of the poor, and with the 
injustice that the weak were toopften forced to bear. 
Thus it came to pass that the helpless ones became his- 
special charge and valiantly did, he strive to awaken 
sympathy for the weak and the unfortunate, while - 
unmasking great wrongs and combating crying evils. 

While Charles Dickens was appealing to the con- 
science of readers in his novels there was in one of 
London's homes of wealth and, culture a wonder-., 
fully gifted young woman, whose poems had already 
brought her fame, and who was destined to rise tc:, 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

a high place among the Victorian authors, and to 
become the wife of the greatest English poet of the 
century. 

At this time Elizabeth Barrett was an invalid; 
indeed, her physician doubted whether she would 
ever recover her health. Yet, in spite of intense 
suffering, she persisted in studying, in writing, and 
in keeping in touch with the great bustling world. 
The spirit of the age had penetrated into her dark- 
ened room, and the moral welfare of the people 
was of deep concern to her. Among her friends 
was Richard Henry Home, the poet and essayist; 
he also was interested in the condition of the poor-; 
he had been appointed assistant commissioner in a 
government investigation started to learn the facts 
connected with child-labor in the mines, factories and 
shops of the realm. The revelations were as start- 
ling as they were shameful ; on the publication of 
the report. Miss Barrett first became acquainted 
with facts revealing the tragic fate of tens of thou- 
sands of little ones. She read the report with 
something akin to horror. The condition of the 
children haunted her waking and her sleeping hours. 
One day she took her pen and wrote that immortal 
poem and protest "The Cry of the Children,"* 

*See "Typical Poems and Songs of the Period of the Corn-Law 
and Chartist Agitations," in Appendix. 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

one of the most moving heart-cries of the age, which, 
together with Thomas Hood's " Song of the Shirt " 
and " The Bridge of Sighs," * epitomizes the tragic 
fate of thousands of children and women under the 
reign of modern commerciaHsm. The Rev. William 
James Dawson points out the interesting fact that 
by these three poems the city, in its tragic social 
aspect, became definitely annexed to the realm of 
English poetry. He also regards Elizabeth Barrett 
and Thomas Hood as pioneers in the modern move- 
ment that is fast socializing poetry in spirit as well 
as in theme. ■{* 

Like Elizabeth Barrett, Thomas Hood suffered 
much from sickness ; in his case, to the pain of 
physical disease was added also the anxious care and 
harassment of mind that are known fully only by 
the man who is battling bravely to support a family. 
Though sick and poor, however, Hood was one of 
those rare natures that meet life's perplexities with a 
strong heart and smiling eye. He was one of the 
bravest and kindliest of men ; the world little sus- 
pected the pain of body or the distress of mind 
that filled many days when, with a winning smile 
and a cheerful word or charming jest, he gladdened 
all with whom he came in contact. He was a gifted 

* Ibid. 

■j- W. J. Dawson, " Makers of Modern English," pp. i6i— 163. 
IZ3 



How England Averted a 'Revolution of Force 

author. His wit and humor were inimitable, and 
he possessed deep insight and the imagination of a 
true poet. Had he not been forced to devote his 
best years simply to writing matter that would bring 
in ready money, he might have ranked among the 
foremost poets of the Victorian era. "The Song 
of the Shirt," " The Bridge of Sighs," and others 
of his creations reveal genuine poetic genius, and 
will live in our literature. In his incessant struggle 
to provide for his loved ones, he burned the taper 
at both ends ; when so ill that he should have 
enjoyed absolute respite from toil, he was still forced 
to drive the pen for bread. He always made light 
of his own sufferings. Even when the shadow of 
death lay on his brow, he strove to charm away the 
tears from the loving eyes of those ministering to 
him with the following grim but characteristic jest. 
The doctor had ordered a mustard plaster to be 
applied to his chest to relieve the paroxysms of pain 
and of coughing. When the plaster was being put 
on his emaciated breast. Hood said, with the old- 
time twinkle in his eye : " That seems a great deal 
of mustard for so little meat." 

It was in 1843 ^^^^ Hood wrote " The Song of 
the Shirt." This poem and " The Bridge of Sighs " 
endeared him to the reformers of England ; when 

in 1 845 he died, all who were battling for better con- 

1Z4 



T^he Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

ditions for the poor felt that progress and humanity- 
had sustained a great loss. Gerald Massey uttered 
the sentiment of tens of thousands in the following 
noble lines : 

" He might have clutched the palm of Victory 
In the world's wrestling-ring of noble deeds ; 
But he went down a precious Argosy 
At sea, just glimmering into sight of shore, 
With its rare freightage from diviner climes. 
While friends were crowding at the Harbour mouth 
To meet and welcome the brave Sailor back, 
He saw, and sank in sight of them and home ! 
The world may never know the wealth it lost, 
When Hood went darkling to his tearful tomb, 
So mighty in his undeveloped force ! 
With all his crowding unaccomplished hopes — 
Th' unuttered wealth and glory of his soul — • 
And all the music ringing round his life. 
And poems stirring in his dying brain. 
But blessings on him for the songs he sang — 
Which yearned about the world till then for birth ! 
How like a bonny bird of God he came. 
And poured his heart in music for the Poor, 
Who sit in gloom while sunshine floods the land. 
And grope through darkness, for the hand of Help. 
And trampled Manhood heard, and claimed its crown ; 
And trampled Womanhood sprang up ennobled ! " 

Ebenezer Elliott had been, as has been said, the 
voice of one crying in the wilderness of special 
privilege " Prepare ye the way ! " After he had 

125 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

written his poems of protest came the scholarly 
Charles Mackay, the poet of the Anti-Corn-Law 
League, and Gerald Massey, the radical prophet-poet 
of progress, who voiced the spirit of Chartism, — 
greater in power, in imagination, and in poetic feel- 
ing than either Elliott or Mackay. No story of 
the social movement of the 'forties of the nine- 
teenth century would be complete that left out of 
the account the works of these two popular poets. 

Charles Mackay was born in Scotland, though he 
was educated in London and in Brussels. From 
early youth he had been an omnivorous reader, and 
at school he excelled in mathematics. Later he 
showed aptitude for the languages, learning to write 
and speak French with the fluency of an educated 
Parisian. Fie mastered also German, and could 
speak Italian and Spanish. But the child who his 
delighted master had once predicted would become 
one of the most distinguished mathemeticians of the 
age, turned to literature. His love for making 
verses, which took possession of him when he was 
still a little boy, seemed to increase with advancing 
years. 

In 1832, when eighteen years of age, Mackay 

entered London in search of work. After a time 

he succeeded in obtaining a place on the Daily 

Chronicle; by the time the League had compelled 

126 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

the great papers of the realm to open their columns 
to the movement, he held an important post on its 
editorial staff. He soon became deeply interested 
in the work of the League, catching the moral 
enthusiasm that radiated from Richard Cobden, John 
Bright and other leaders. Mackay edited the Corn- 
Law and Free-Trade news department of the 
Chronicle; he also wrote many of the strongest 
editorials on these subjects that appeared in that 
great journal. Not content however with address- 
ing the reason of his countrymen, he appealed to 
their sentiment and imagination in fable * and in 
verse, "j" His poems were greatly in vogue at the 
time, being circulated by tens of thousands. They 
were on the lips of the popular orators, and not a 
few of them were sung by the multitudes at the 
great League meetings that so excited the indigna- 
tion of the Tories. 

The rhymes of Mackay were far less radical, or 
defiant, in tone and spirit than were the trumpet 
calls of Gerald Massey. Indeed, the Scotch poet 
might be called a conservative agitator, paradoxical 
as the term may sound. He entertained scant 
sympathy for Chartism, or for the more aggressive 

* See "The Tailor-ruled Land," in Appendix. 
•j-See "Typical Poems and Songs of the Period of the Corn-Law 
and Chartist Agitations," in Appendix. 

127 



'How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

♦and revolutionary spirit abroad at that time. He 
■abhorred the employment of force ; on only one or 
two occasions does it appear that he was influenced 
^by the swelling tide of revolt to such a degree as to 
-express the possibility of the progressive movement 
ever requiring the use of the cannon-ball. His 
poems carry with them the inspiration that is born 
"of a passionate love of justice and of human broth- 
erhood. Most of them are full of faith in man 
-and of hope for the future. They thus served to 
'cheer and sustain the people during the long night- 
time that followed the various reverses encountered 
by the League. 

Gerald Massey was incomparably the greatest of 
the poet-agitators. He possessed imagination, deep 
poetic feeling, and the prophet spirit as did none 
other of the people's rhymers of this period. His 
■poems have proved a positive help and inspiration 
to all social reformers and friends of the people 
^since they were penned. It is true they were for 
the most part written after the repeal of the Corn- 
Laws, and were inspired largely by the wide-spread 
revolution on the Continent that made 1848 so 
memorable, and which, in spite of its failure, fur- 
thered in many ways the idea of freedom through- 
out western Europe. 

The ferment that led to the banishment of Giu- 
128 



'The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

seppe Mazzini from Italy, and that which caused 
the exile of Karl Marx and of Richard Wagner 
from Germany, thrilled Massey and called forth 
some of the strongest and most moving didactic, 
or reformative, lines to be found in Anglo-Saxon 
literature. Hence, though most of these poems 
were composed, as has just been said, after the great 
peaceful victory had been won that repealed the Corn 
Laws and gave England free trade in breadstuffs, 
they were part of the fruitage of the educational agi- 
tation begun by Chartism and the League, and 
properly belong to any story of this memorable 
struggle. 

Gerald Massey was born into a home of extreme 
poverty. When he was only eight years of age we 
find him working twelve hours a day in a silk fac- 
tory, and receiving for his services from eighteen 
to thirty-six cents a week. Yet even this small sum 
was needed to save the family from starvation. His 
own description of the bitter struggle of his boy- 
hood is extremely pathetic. He knew, as few poets 
have known, what the poor suffer. He had felt 
their bitterness of soul, and chose to forego the 
fame and emolument that would have been his had 
he given himself solely to lyrical verse, pleasing to 
conventionalism, instead of stepping forth and join- 
ing the little band of chosen ones who preferred to 

9 129 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

fight for progress, for justice, and for popular 
happiness, even though they fought alone and 
suffered much. So long as there is injustice to 
be assailed, so long as there is uninvited poverty 
to be abolished, so long as Oppression and Wrong 
are enthroned in power, the prophet voice of 
Gerald Massey will thrill the hearts of those who 
feel for humanity and who consecrate their lives 
to its cause. 

Massey was very bold in many of his expres- 
sions. No prophet who in olden times trod the 
burning sands of Palestine has arraigned in stronger 
or more biting terms the iniquities of convention- 
alism, or the injustice of many things in the social 
order. There are in Life scenes so tragic that the 
heart sickens when contemplating them, scenes that 
fill the soul with a nameless horror and make it 
cease to be a safe and sober counselor ; but, like 
the prophet of old, it turns its wrath upon the slow- 
thinking multitude who impassively witness the old 
man's vain prayer for pauper-pay, the old woman's 
slow starvation, the virtual serfdom of the young 
men (who nevertheless create the bulk of the nation's 
wealth), and, more terrible than all, the helpless and 
revolting prostitution of the maidens. It is with 
this supreme tragedy before his eyes, that we find 

Mr. Massey in such poems as " Our Fathers are 

130 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

Praying for Pauper-pay," * pouring forth words 
that are well calculated to startle alike the thought- 
less rich and the slow-thinking poor. 

In a time of social ferment, when larger views of 
life were opening before the mental vision of men, 
one can easily understand how such lines as these 
of Massey's stirred the popular imagination, and in 
how marked a degree they became an inspiration to 
thousands : 

"'Tis coming up the steep of Time, 

And this old world is growing brighter! 
We may not see its Dawn sublime. 

Yet high hopes make the heart throb lighter ! 
Our dust may slumber under-ground 

When it awakes the world in wonder ; 
But we have felt it gathering round ! — 

We have heard its voice of distant thunder ! 
'T is Coming ! yes, 't is Coming ! 

" 'T is coming now, that glorious time 
Foretold by Seers, and sung in story. 
For which, when thinking was a crime. 

Souls leaped to heaven from scaffolds gory ! 
They passed. But lo ! the work they've wrought, 

Now the crowned hopes of Centuries blossom ! 
The lightning of their living thought 

Is flashing through us, brain and bosom ; 
'T is Coming! yes, 't is Coming! 

*See "Typical Poems and Songs of the Period of the Corn-Law 
and Chartist Agitations," in Appendix, 

131 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

The World will not forever bow 

To things that mock God's own endeavour. 

'T is nearer than they wot of now, 

When Flowers shall wreathe their Sword forever ! 
'T is Coming ! yes, 't is Coming! 

" Fraternity ! Love' s other name ! 

Dear, heaven-connecting link of being; 
Then shall we grasp thy golden dream. 

As souls, fuU-statured, grow far-seeing : 
Thou shalt unfold our better part. 

And in our life-cup yield more honey ; 
Light up with joy the Poor Man's heart. 

And Love's own world with smiles more sunny! 
'T is Coming! yes, 't is Coming!" 



In these verses beginning with a fine apostrophe 
to Liberty, Massey reflected the cherished hope of 
miUions of upward-striving souls : 

"Immortal Liberty ! we see thee stand 

Like Morn just stepped from heaven upon a mountain, 
With beautiful feet, and blessing-laden hand, 

And heart that welleth Love's most living fountain ! 
O ! when wilt thou draw from the People' s lyre 

Joy's broken chord? and on the People's brow 
Set Empire's crown ? light up thy Altar-fire 

Within their hearts, with an undying glow ; 

Nor give us blood for milk, as men are drunk with now? 

< ' Old legends tell us of a Golden Age, 

When earth was guiltless, — Gods the guests of men, 
Ere sin had dimmed the heart's illumined page, — 
132 



The Literature and 'Thinkers of the Period 

And prophet-voices say 't will come again. 
O ! happy age ! when love shall rule the heart, 

And time to live shall be the poor man's dower, 
When Martyrs bleed no more, nor Exiles smart, — 

Mind is the only diadem of power. — 

People, it ripens now ! awake ! and strike the hour. 

•' Hearts, high and mighty, gather in our cause ; 

Bless, bless, O God, and crown their earnest labour. 
Who dauntless fight to win us Equal Laws, 

With mental armour and with spirit-sabre ! 
Bless, bless, O God ! the proud intelligence. 

That now is dawning on the People's forehead,^ 
Humanity springs from them like incense. 

The Future bursts upon them, boundless — starried — 

They weep repentant tears, that they so long have tarried." 

As a rule, the sympathy of the clergy of the 
Church of England was strongly on the side of the 
Tories ; but it was impossible that an educational 
agitation, carried on for a number of years and 
appealing primarily to the sense of right and justice, 
should fail to influence some of the more thought- 
ful and conscientious members of the clergy. 
Among the ripe scholars and finished writers who 
spoke for justice from the ranks of the EstabHshed 
Church, Frederick D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley 
call for special notice. They chose to imitate in a 
large way the life and teachings of the great Naza- 
rene, rather than to follow in the wake of the con- 
ventional priesthood. 

133 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

Mr. Maurice was one of the noblest clergymen 
in the Church of England at that period. He was 
a scholar and a man of great ability. He might 
easily have won a commanding place in literature, 
or have risen high in the councils of the church, 
while enjoying a life of wealth, ease, and luxury; 
but he was too great a man to be seduced by the 
siren voice of conventionality. He had come under 
the influence of a new idea — or rather of an idea 
new to the church of that day. This idea is admir- 
ably expressed by Massey thus : " Humanity is one. 
The Eternal intends to show us that humanity is 
one. And the family is more than the individual 
member, the nation is more than the family, and 
the human race is more than the nation." 

The Golden Rule, the Fatherhood of God, the 
Brotherhood of Man, the essential solidarity of the 
race, and the reciprocal dependence and responsi- 
bility of the units were fundamental facts in Maurice's 
religious belief. He was one of those brave teachers 
who insist on taking Jesus' lofty utterances in the 
Sermon on the Mount seriously ; and holding these 
views he could not remain idle or silent when the 
poor were starving, when on every side there were 
multitudes of victims to unjust conditions and to 
the slavery of ignorance. He therefore drew round 
him a band of consecrated workers and began teach- 

134 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

ing in a systematic way the new social ideas in a 
somewhat modified form. He went far beyond the 
Anti-Corn-Law leaders, even beyond the Chartist 
manifesto, in advocating the formation of cooper- 
ative associations for the benefit of workers, and in 
promulgating the principles of Christian Socialism. 
In this great work he was ably seconded by his 
enthusiastic disciple, Charles Kingsley. 

Before leaving Maurice, however, we must men- 
tion his great effort for the education and upliftment 
of the poor. He understood the peril of ignorance 
and the broadening, enriching and refining effect of 
sound education. Hence he set at work to bring 
its blessings within the reach of the artisans in the 
metropolis. Night schools were formed, and an 
extended work looking toward the general education 
of old and young was entered upon. Next he set at 
work to secure for the artisans the benefits of a col- 
lege curriculum. His labors were ably seconded by 
other fine scholars, who gladly gave their services 
free, and by philanthropic men of means who gen- 
erously aided the movement. Before long as a 
result of these labors two institutions, the Work- 
ingmen's College and the Queen's College for 
Women, were established. These institutions have 
wrought great good in the metropolis of England, 
and they have indirectly materially furthered the 

MS 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

spread of education among the artisans in various 
centers throughout the Enghsh-speaking world. 

Bolder and more outspoken than Maurice was 
his ardent disciple Charles Kingsley, who when still 
a young man came under the influence of the 
humanitarian sentiment of the age. Kingsley was 
born in 1819. He was graduated from Magdalene 
college, Cambridge, in 1842. Like Maurice, he 
felt that the minister of Christ should take the life 
and teachings of the great Exemplar seriously. He 
loved his fellow-men and sought to follow in the 
footsteps of the Master. The condition of the very 
poor among the farmers of England awakened a 
measureless sympathy in his heart. He knew that 
things were wrong in Church and in State when, 
with the life and teachings of the Founder of our 
religion ever before Christian England, such suf- 
fering should exist as everywhere met his eye. 

In 1848 appeared Kingsley *s first novel " Yeast." 

It dealt with the poverty prevailing among the 

agrarian population. He soon found, however, that 

conditions so revolting as to be almost inconceivable 

existed among the sweated tailors of London. The 

scenes that met his eye during his investigations 

there called forth a powerful protest entitled " Cheap 

Clothes and Nasty." They also served to make 

this clergyman of the State church, for a time at 

136 



The Literature and 'Thinkers of the Period 

least, a radical among radicals. On one occasion 
he declared himself " a Church of England parson 
— and a Chartist." In sermon, in tract, and in 
story Kingsley sought to work a social revolution. 
"All systems of society," he once affirmed, " which 
favor the accumulation of capital in a few hands, 
which oust the masses from the soil which their fore- 
fathers possessed of old, which reduce them to the 
level of serfs and day-labourers living on wages and 
on alms, which crush them down with debt, or in 
any wise degrade and enslave them, or deny them 
a permanent stake in the commonwealth, are 
contrary to the kingdom of God which Jesus 
proclaimed." 

In 1848 he wrote his strongest and most vital,, 
though by no means his most finished, novel "Alton 
Locke," — a story in which the reader is taken inta 
the wretched environment of the victims of the 
sweating system in London, as Kingsley found it. 
Here the revolting filth and the wretched poverty 
of the unfortunate slaves of modern commercialism 
are brought home to the reader in a manner that is 
possible only when a writer has actually seen the 
bitter lot of the suffering ones, and when he also 
possesses a great, loving and sympathetic heart. 
The novel caught the fancy of the hour and sold 

by thousands, thus serving its author's great pur- 

137 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

pose, which was to arouse further public opinion 
to the injustice endured by the poor. It will be 
remembered that in one remarkable chapter of this 
novel Kingsley shows how the conditions of the 
very poor made Chartists. Had Kingsley written 
nothing but "Alton Locke," his life would have 
been grandly worth the while ; though as a literary 
creation it is very faulty in many respects, as a con- 
science novel, as a voice speaking from the highway 
of progress and calling to the sluggish heart of the 
world, it is a great work — one of the most notable 
contributions of the 'forties of the nineteenth cen- 
tury to the literature of reform. Kingsley fought 
social and economic injustice on the ground that 
they were contrary to the teachings of Jesus. 

With other devoted Church-of-England reform- 
ers, Charles Kingsley entered enthusiastically into a 
movement to further Christian Socialism. Much 
of the socialistic thought found to-day in the 
religious population of the Anglo-Saxon world had 
its origin — or at least received its first great impulse — 
from the writings and work of Frederick Maurice 
and Charles Kingsley. But Kingsley, like his friend 
and master in reform, was by no means content with 
simply promulgating his beliefs on social problems. 
He was ever ready to engage in any active work that 

promised practical results of a socialistic character. 

138 



'The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

He assisted to the extent of his abiHty in an effort 
to establish cooperative shops, while he was one of 
the ablest scholars who gave their services gratu- 
itously to the college work for the artisan class of 
which Maurice was the head and front. 

Of Canon Kingsley's poetry and of his numerous 
prose works that were not distinctively reformatory 
in character it is not our purpose here to speak, fur- 
ther than to observe that all his writings breathe a 
highly religious and deeply humanitarian spirit. A 
lofty altruism that beautifully reflected the spirit 
and letter of the Sermon on the Mount, char- 
acterized his life and work. He was from first to 
last a faithful apostle of justice and of the higher 
moral law. 

We cannot close this survey of the conscience- 
element in the Hterature of this period, without 
pausing a moment before the humble abode of an 
Italian exile — Giuseppe Mazzini — who came to 
London in 1837, and remained there until the stir- 
ring upheavals on the Continent of 1848. During 
the period of his sojourn in England by voice, 
by pen, and by personal example he contributed in 
no small degree to the moral and reforming forces 
at work on every side. 

Mazzini was a young man when he arrived in 

London ; he had not reached his thirty-second 

139 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

birthday.* Yet he had long been known as one of 
the great apostles of freedom in Europe. Tens 
if not hundreds of thousands of Italian patriots 
regarded him as the noblest incarnation of the 
republican spirit that had appeared since the Grac- 
chi were overthrown ; and if he was loved and idol- 
ized in every camp where freedom dwelt, he was 
also feared and hated as were but few men of the 
time by the upholders of despotism on the Italian 
peninsula. 

Mazzini was born in Genoa. His parents were 
ardently attached to republican principles. His 
father was a physician by profession and a man of 
culture, possessing considerable means. The son 
was therefore enabled to enjoy the best educational 
advantages that his native city offered to the young. 
He early entered the university ; in 1826 he gradu- 
ated in law, having determined to adopt law and 
literature as his life work. His whole nature 
revolted against all forms of tyranny, bigotry, and 
oppression. Though he was one of the most 
deeply religious men of his age, he could not be 
held in thrall by the arbitrary dogmas of the domi- 
nant church of his land. In literature as well as in 

* According to Mazzini himself, he was born in 1809. Dr. 
Thomas, in Lippincotf s "Biographical Dictionary,'" gives the date of 
his birth as 1808; the Rev. J. S. Black, in the "Encyclopaedia 
Britannica," says 1805. 

140 



'The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

politics he was in open revolt, being as ardent a 
champion of romanticism in Italy as was Victor 
Hugo in France. Romanticism he regarded as a 
vital protest against literary servitude under the 
name of classicism. The conflict he characterized 
as " a war between the supporters of a literary des- 
potism, dating its origin and authority two thou- 
sand years back, and those who thought to emanci- 
pate themselves from its tyranny in the name of 
their own individual inspiration." * 

Literature exerted a deep fascination on the youth 
and sought to lure him along the road made glorious 
by so many noble Romans in the splendid past. 
But even before he left college he had yielded to a 
mightier spell than even seductive literature can 
cast. The glamour of the age had fallen over his 
soul. The seed-thoughts of liberty and free gov- 
ernment scattered by Washington and our fathers 
had taken root all over civilization. France had 
shaken the thrones of western Europe. South 
America had broken from the old regime, and the 
names of Bolivar and of San Martin rose beside 
that of Washington, and gave to the New World 
a glory far greater than a triple crown. Into the 
active brain of Giuseppe Mazzini came the dream 

* "Joseph Mazzini: His Life, Writings, and Political Principles," 
p. 5. 

141 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

of free Italy united and invincible under republican 
rule. He early affiliated himself with the Carbonari, 
a secret society then working somewhat blindly, 
but striving earnestly after the light of a freer day. 

It is not infrequently the case, when a great truth 
takes possession of the imagination of a sincere 
youth, that it drives out all other thoughts and 
rules alone. Thus it was with Mazzini. Sadly he 
bade adieu to literature and engaged actively in the 
work of the order to which he had attached him- 
self. Before long he was betrayed, denounced, 
arrested, and for six months imprisoned in the 
Fortress Savona, on the western Riviera. While 
here he became convinced that the association to 
which he belonged could never succeed, as it was 
based on negation. It aimed to destroy, but had 
no clear or definite constructive policy. He there- 
fore formulated the plan for the great movement he 
afterwards organized, known as " Young Italy," 
and which did so much to kindle anew the republi- 
can spirit throughout the peninsula. 

At length Mazzini was tried. The evidence 

against him was insufficient to convict ; but he was 

forbidden to reside in Genoa, or to settle in any 

other large Italian city. Rather than brook the 

government surveillance he chose exile and retired 

to France, where he matured the plans formed while 

142 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

in prison for the establishment of the new order. 
Aided by a few devoted friends, he pushed the 
movement so vigorously that, in spite of the vigi- 
lance of the government, Italy was soon filled with 
associations working for the one great end blazoned 
in the words borne on their banner, " Liberty, 
Equality, Humanity, Independence, and Unity." 

The method pursued in Mazzini's scheme was 
educational and insurrectionary. No man compre- 
hended more clearly than did he the fact that edu- 
cation, and the arousing of the moral sentiment of 
a people, must precede any successful revolution or 
reconstruction of an old order. " Great revolu- 
tions," he wrote, " are the work rather of principles 
than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, 
and afterwards in the material sphere. Bayonets 
are truly powerful only when they assert or main- 
tain a right. The rights and duties of society 
spring from a profound moral sense which has taken 
root in the majority." * 

For some time Marseilles was the revolutionary 
headquarters of " Young Italy"; but after being 
importuned by the Italian government France ban- 
ished Mazzini, who then retired to Switzerland. 
Here also he was so effective in carrying forward 

* "Joseph Mazzini : His Life, Writings, and Political Principles,"' 

p. 78. 

143 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

the great movement that the peninsular govern- 
ment prevailed upon the little republic to drive him 
forth. Thus it was that in 1837 the exile, with 
means exhausted and much depressed in spirit, 
came to London. 

He had just passed through one of those great 
moral crises that come at times into the lives of 
highly sensitive and conscientious natures, after high 
hopes have been dashed to earth and all seems dark, 
— crises in which doubt fills the mind and despair 
peeps in at the windows of the soul ; and this 
moral crisis, he tells us, was succeeded by a crisis of 
absolute poverty that lasted during the whole of '37 
and half of '38. "I struggled on," he says, 
"in silence. I pledged, without the possibility of 
redeeming them, the few dear souvenirs, either of 
my mother or others, which I possessed ; then 
things of less value ; until one Saturday I found 
myself obliged to carry an old coat and a pair of 
boots to one of the pawn-broker shops, crowded on 
Saturday evenings by the poor and fallen, in order 
to obtain food for the Sunday. ... I passed, one 
by one, through all those trials and experiences; 
bitter enough at any time, but doubly so when they 
have to be encountered by one living solitary, 
uncounselled, and lost amid the immense multitude 

of men unknown to him, in a country where pov- 

144 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

erty — especially in a foreigner — is an argument for 
a distrust often unjust, sometimes cruel." * 

At length it became noised about in London that 
the great Italian patriot was in the city, and in sore 
need. England has never been wanting in loyal 
and devoted friends of freedom, and some of these 
sought out Mazzini and interested themselves in 
him in a substantial way. Through them he was 
introduced in literary circles, and leading reviews 
commissioned him to prepare papers for them. 
Here, too, he came into friendly relationship with 
many of those who represented conscience in the 
literature of the age. How highly the author of 
"The French Revolution" esteemed him may be 
judged from the following extract from a letter 
addressed by Carlyle, under date June 15, 1844, to 
the London T'imes : 

" I have had the honour to know Mr. Mazzini for a series of years, 
and, whatever I may think of his practical insight and skill in worldly 
affairs, I can with great freedom testify to all men that he, if ever I 
have seen one such, is a man of genius and virtue, a man of sterling 
veracity, humanity, and nobleness of mind, one of those rare men, 
numerable, unfortunately, but as units in this world, who are worthy 
to be called martyr souls ; who, in silence, piously in their daily life, 
understand and practise what is meant by that." -j- 

*" Joseph Mazzini: His Life, Writings and Political Principles," 
pp. 204—205. 

•j- See William Clarke's sketch of Mazzini, in the Introduction to 
" Essays by Mazzini," published by Walter Scott, London. 

10 145 



How Ejngland Averted a Revolution of Force 

With Mazzini life was a mission, and duty divine. 
His whole conscientious existence served to illus- 
trate the living faith that burned on the altar of his 
soul. It was the profound conviction of his heart 
that he expressed in the following words : 

«' Life is a mission. Every other definition of life is false, and 
leads all who accept it astray. Religion, science, philosophy, though 
still at variance upon many points, all agree in this, that every existence 
is an aim. Were it not so, of what avail were the movement, the 
progress, which all are beginning to recognize as the Law of life .'' And 
that aim is one : to develop and bring into action all the faculties which 
constitute and lie dormant in human nature — Humanity — and cause 
them harmoniously to combine toward the discovery and application 
of that law. . . . Life is a mission ; duty, therefore, its highest law. 
In the comprehension of that mission, and fulfilment of that duty, lies 
our means of future progress, the secret of the stage of existence into 
which we shall be initiated at the conclusion of this earthly stage. 
Life is immortal ; but the method and time of evolution through 
which it progresses is not in our own hands. Each of us is bound to 
purify his own soul as a temple ; to free it from egotism ; to set before 
himself, with a religious sense of the importance of the study, the prob- 
lem of his own life ; to search out what is the most striking, the most 
urgent need of the men by whom he is surrounded 5 then interrogate 
his own faculties and capacity, and resolutely and unceasingly apply 
them to the satisfaction of that need." * . . . 

. "From the idea of God I descended to the conception of progress j 
from the conception of progress to a true conception of life ; to faith 
in a mission and its logical consequence — duty the supreme rule of 
life ; and having reached that faith, I swore to myself that nothing 

* "Joseph Mazzini : His Life, Writings, and Political Principles," 
pp. 198—200. 

146 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

in this world should again make me doubt or forsake it." * . , . 
" The faith which should guide us shines forth, I think, ... in 
these few words of another Polish poet . . . , — Skarga, — which I 
have often repeated to myself: ' The threatening steel flashes before our 
eyes, and wretchedness awaits us on the path ; yet the Lord hath said : 
"Onwards, onwards without rest." But whither go we, O Lord? 
" Go on and die, ye who are bound to die ; go on and suffer, ye who 
are bound to suffer." ' " f 

A man who laid life's richest gifts upon the altar 
of duty, who sacrificed home, friends, native land, 
fame, glory and ease, and elected to become a wan- 
derer and an exile, to live upon the crust of poverty, 
so long as he was at all times true to such exalted 
convictions as those expressed above, could not fail 
to be a power in London at a time when the moral 
energies of the people were everywhere aroused, 
especially as he moved among men of conviction. 
Nor was this all. An incident occurred in 1844 
that served to call the attention of the whole nation 
to Mazzini, and awakened a deep interest in him, 
while it aroused further the popular sentiment 
against the government and thus augmented the 
general discontent. 

At the instigation of the government of Naples, 
the postal authorities of England began tampering 
with Mazzini's mail. At length his suspicions were 
aroused. He became convinced that his letters 

* Ibid., pp. 202-203. ^ Ibid,, p. 202. 

147 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

were being opened by the authorities ; but so clev- 
erly was the duplication of seals and the stamping 
done, that it was hard to get the evidence necessary 
to sustain so grave a charge. The friends to whom 
he stated his convictions were incredulous. They 
did not believe that the government would dare vio- 
late the sanctity of the mails. At length however 
Mazzini, after setting several traps, secured evidence 
of an indisputable character. Then one of his 
friends in Parliament volunteered to question the 
government, and to petition for an investigation. 
The charge created a great sensation, and the minis- 
ters were assailed by questions from all sides of the 
most embarrassing character. At first they sought 
refuge in evasions ; but finding this useless they 
confessed, justifying themselves however by claim- 
ing that they had acted under permission granted 
by an act passed in the reign of Queen Anne. A 
tempest of popular indignation ensued, and Sir 
James Graham the chief offender sought to justify 
himself by maligning Mazzini. But the Italian was 
not a man to be browbeaten, even though poor and 
in exile. He confuted the calumnies so effectively 
that the offending minister was compelled to apolo- 
gize publicly to the House of Commons for circu- 
lating the libelous statements. 

This controversy created a national interest in 
148 



The Literature and Thinkers of the Period 

Mazzini ; a knowledge of his high aims, of his 
noble purposes and of his exalted teachings spread 
through the realm. Thousands who had before 
known nothing of his life now became eager to 
learn more of this wonderful young man who loved 
freedom and the people more than all those things 
usually esteemed most, while a general sympathy 
was felt for him by the nation that felt humiliated at 
the ignoble part played by its government. And 
thus it chanced that even an exile aided by his 
presence and by his message in the great educational 
movement. 

But Mazzini was never content with being merely 
a teacher. He was an apostle of service. He 
found in London hundreds of little ignorant Italian 
boys. He soon interested friends in their behalf, 
and was the means of establishing a school where 
every night and on Sunday the children were gratu- 
itously taught. He was a tireless worker. He wrote 
much ; he discussed the great questions uppermost 
in his mind ; he sought out the poor and ignorant ; 
and thus, from early to late, he labored for others, 
his very life being an inspiration to all who knew him. 

These were some of those who sowed the seeds 
of justice, and held up the larger and nobler ideal 
of freedom before the conscience of England, in the 

'forties of the last century. Of this number Richard 

149 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

Cobden, John Bright, Elizabeth Barrett, Charles 
Mackay, Gerald Massey, Charles Kingsley, Charles 
Dickens, and Giuseppe Mazzini were all young. 
At the time of the accession of Queen Victoria in 
1837 the oldest of the group, Mr. Cobden, was but 
thirty-three years of age. They brought into the 
battle for the larger life the splendid courage and 
enthusiasm of youth, and exemplified again the fact, 
of which history affords many illustrations, that 
progress waits upon the young men and young 
women of an age, to whom Civilization turns in the 
hour of supreme need. If the youth of a nation be 
clean-souled, strong in faith and hope, while cher- 
ishing high ideals, the nation has little to fear. 
Who shall say how much civilization owes to the 
young men of England, in the 'thirties and 'forties 
of that century, who stood up in the face of appar- 
ently overwhelming opposition and fought for pro- 
gress and for justice, in so doing educating the 
conscience of the nation to such a degree that prac- 
tical advance became comparatively easy ? 



150 



CHAPTER VI. 

^'CARRTING THE WAR INTO AFRICA 



Disappointment in Melbourne Ministry — Mr. Wood of Man- 
chester — Parliamentary Tactics — Agitators' Troubles — Pos- 
tal Reform — A Tory Ministry — Cobden in Parliament — 
Compact between Cobden and John Bright — The Press opens 
its Columns — Thomas Moore — Thomas Campbell — The Year 
1844 — Absurd Remedies Proposed. 



T 



"AHE VIGOROUS and aggressive campaign 

opened by the Anti-Corn-Law League, 

the rising tide of discontent everywhere 

perceptible, the desperate condition of the poor as 

revealed by Parliamentary investigations, and the 

blossoming of the humanitarian spirit apparent in 

the literature of the day led the more sanguine of 

the reformers to look for prompt and radical action 

on the part of the Melbourne ministry. They 

believed that a bold, strong and defiant stand in 

favor of free trade in grain taken by the government, 

would electrify the nation to such an extent as to 

lift the Liberal ministry again into the popular 

favor that had been lost by its timid, halting and 

151 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

uncertain policy. Lord Melbourne, however, was 
in no sense a Moses. He was the last man to 
reinstate his party in public affection by taking a 
radical position on the great social, political and 
economic questions that were at that time threaten- 
ing to convulse the kingdom ; and thus the hopes 
of those reformers who had anticipated early 
action on the Corn Laws were doomed to disap- 
pointment. 

At the opening of Parliament, in 1839, Lord 
Melbourne stated that he v^'as not prepared to 
pledge himself to any alteration in the Corn Laws. 
This discouraging announcement was quickly fol- 
lowed by an incident that greatly exasperated the 
reformers. The Melbourne ministry, wishing to con- 
ciliate the discontented manufacturers, had selected 
Mr. Wood, chairman of the chamber of commerce 
of Manchester, to second the Queen's address. In 
his speech this gentleman expressed the conviction 
that the Corn Laws should be repealed, as a matter 
of good policy no less than of justice. But, passing 
from this, he deliberately proceeded to state that the 
manufacturing interests were by no means suffering ; 
they were, he contended, in a state of progressive 
prosperity. Here at one blow he had given a 
sweeping denial to one of the strongest and most 

effective arguments of the League. Sir Robert 

15a 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

Peel, the leader of the Opposition, was at that time 
regarded as the special champion of the Corn Laws. 
He quickly appreciated the fatal blunder of the 
gentleman from Manchester, and promptly con- 
gratulated him on his clear and convincing presen- 
tation of the facts concerning the manufacturing 
interests, proceeding to observe that " it was one of 
the ablest and most conclusive speeches in favor of 
the existing system which it had been his good for- 
tune to hear." 

We can readily imagine the indignation and dis- 
may with which Mr. Wood's speech was received, 
by Manchester as well as by the League. He was 
promptly removed from the chairmanship of the 
chamber of commerce, and the reformers at once set 
at work to push forward with redoubled vigor the 
campaign. 

On the nineteenth of February, Mr. Villiers 
moved that evidence be received by the House in 
regard to the baleful eiFects of the Corn Laws on 
agriculture, as well as on trade and manufactures. 
But facts were precisely what the Tories and the 
unconverted Whigs did not wish to hear. The 
motion was lost by an overwhelming majority. Mr. 
Villiers, however, was not a man of dough ; he 
knew that every time the measure was debated or 
presented the Corn Laws were weakened, because 

153 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

they were bad measures and opposed to justice, and 
to the prosperity and happiness of the people. 
Hence he moved that the House resolve itself into 
a committee of the whole to consider the laws that 
regulated the importation of corn. The question 
was debated early in March. Five days were given 
to its consideration. When the vote was taken the 
motion was rejected by three hundred and forty-two 
to one hundred and ninety-five. A majority of one 
hundred and forty-seven votes was well calculated 
to dampen the ardor of the reformers ! 

But the League, appreciating the importance of 
raggressive work, immediately renewed its campaign 
with increased energy. Speakers were sent forth 
to all sections of the country to proclaim the new 
economic gospel, and the nation was literally sown 
in leaflets, catechisms, tracts, and pamphlets. The 
reformers had early determined to avoid such ex- 
treme utterances and appeals to passion as had 
previously resulted in disturbance and bloodshed, 
.and had given the government a pretext for inter- 
fering with the Chartist agitation ; but they soon 
found that even the most fair, reasonable and 
modest presentation of their cause so aroused those 
interested in upholding the Corn Laws that the 
lives of the agitators were by no means safe, while 
ithe authorities, not content with seeking to obstruct 

154 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

their work, actually resorted in certain cases to 
an abuse of power in order to break the influ- 
ence of the League. The press of the country, 
through constant misrepresentation, abuse and 
puerile sophistries, sought to delude when it was 
not engaged in exciting the passions and the preju- 
dices of its readers. 

The economic missionaries, though they were 
well received and gained ground in Scotland, met in 
England with strong opposition ; they soon learned 
how stubbornly and desperately the beneficiaries of 
special privilege will fight for the interests that bring 
in a golden return. They were threatened and some- 
times mobbed ; halls were denied them to speak in, 
and they were arrested and fined for speaking in the 
market-places. Meetings were sometimes broken 
up, and often interfered with, by persons bent on 
creating disturbance. Innkeepers were afraid to 
house the speakers, lest they lose their customers or 
forfeit their lease ; printers were afraid to set up 
poster announcements of League meetings. The 
following are some typical examples of the opposi- 
tion encountered : 

At Arundel the mayor would not permit the use 
of the town-hall, on the ground that the addresses 
would, make the laborers discontented ; and a reward 
was offered by a land-owning farmer to anyone who 

155 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

would throw the speaker into the river. At Louth, 
after permission to use the town-hall had been 
given and then withdrawn, the speakers secured a 
gig and delivered their lecture from it in the market- 
place ; but before leaving the town they were 
arrested and fined for obstructing the highway. At 
Huntingdon the meeting was riotously broken up 
by a number of people under the leadership of the 
town clerk. At Worksop the lecturer was brutally 
assaulted by hired bullies in the street. But per- 
haps nowhere was a more lawless spirit manifested 
than in the great university town of Cambridge. 
Mr. Morley, in referring to this outrage, observes : 

" It was reserved for a seat of learning to show that no brutality 
can equal that which is engendered of the union of the violent inher- 
ited prejudice of the educated classes with the high spirits of youth. 
No creature is a more unbridled ruffian than the ruffian undergraduate 
can be, and at Cambridge the peaceful arguments of the lecturer were 
interrupted by a destructive and sanguinary riot. The local news- 
paper afterwards piously congratulated the furious gownsmen on hav- 
ing done their duty as < the friends of good government and the 
upholders of the religious institutions of the country.' " * 

The exhibitions of the spirit of lawlessness and 
intolerance were not surprising in view of the atti- 
tude of the conventional press. Mr. Morley, in 
speaking of this phase of the struggle, says : 

*John Morley, <'Life of Richard Cobden," p. 19. 
156 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

"A long campaign of reckless and virulent calumny was at once 
opened in the party organs. One London newspaper described the 
worst members of the Association as unprincipled schemers, and the 
best as self-conceited socialists. Another declared with authority that 
it was composed in equal parts of commercial swindlers and political 
swindlers. A third with edifying unction denounced their sentiments 
as subversive of all moral right and order, their organization as a dis- 
loyal faction, and their speakers as revolutionary emissaries, whom all 
peaceable and well-disposed persons ought to assist the authorities in 
peremptorily putting down. The Morning Post, the journal of Lon- 
don idleness, hailed the Manchester workers in a style that would 
have been grotesque enough, if only it had not represented the serious 
thought of many of the most important people in the dominant class. 
« The manufacturing people exclaim, " Why should we not be permitted 
to exchange the produce of our industry for the greatest quantity of 
food which that industry will anywhere command?" To which we 
answer. Why not, indeed ? Who hinders you ? Take your manu- 
factures away with you, by all means, and exchange them anywhere 
you will from Tobolsk to Timbuctoo. If nothing will serve you but 
to eat foreign corn, away with you, you and your goods, and let 
us never see you more ! ' This was a quarter from which the language 
of simpletons was to be expected, but as the repealers had a thousand 
opportunities of discovering within the next seven years, the language 
of simpletons has many dialects." * 

In Parliament the Melbourne ministry, which 
had become somewhat unpopular even before the 
death of William IV., steadily lost the confidence 
of the electors. Many excellent reform measures 
had been passed by this ministry, but in no instance 
after the reign of Victoria began did they offer an 

*Morley's "Life of Cobden," pp. 19—20. 
^57 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

economic reform bill of any importance. Indeed, 
it had never been till the demands for an advance 
step had become so loud and unmistakable that the 
government could no longer ignore them, that any- 
such step had been taken. Hence the ministry- 
had received but little credit for laws that the people 
felt had been wrung from them. 

The reform in the postal service, introduced dur- 
ing the Melbourne ministry, calls however for notice, 
because of its far-reaching and beneficent influ- 
ence upon society throughout the civilized world. 
" Perhaps," observes one writer, " it represents the 
greatest social improvement brought about in mod- 
ern times." Unfortunately for the fame of the Lib- 
eral ministry this reform, like others, came only after 
outside pressure had compelled the government to 
act. Indeed the proposed reform, when clearly and 
ably outlined by Rowland Hill, called forth the bit- 
terest opposition from the postal department ; the 
innovations were adopted by the government only 
after over two thousand petitions had been sent in 
to the House of Commons, and public pressure 
from ever}^ part of the realm had been brought to 
bear upon the ministry. The bill that served to 
bring order out of chaos, establishing a rational and 
scientific system in place of a crude, burdensome and 

unscientific one, became a law in 1839 ; ^'^'^ ^7 ^^^ 

158 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

practical working England soon assumed the posi- 
tion of the world's leader in the vitally important 
postal service. 

This great reform measure was revolutionary in 
character. It followed closely the clear recommen- 
dations that had been set forth by Rowland Hill in 
1837. The principal features of the measure were 
uniform postal tariff-rates ; reductions in postage ta 
a penny on each half-ounce ; greater speed in the 
conveyance of letters ; greater frequency in the des- 
patch ; the abolition of parliamentary franking priv- 
ileges ; and the prepayment of postage on letters. 
The postage-stamp was introduced some months 
after the reforms just named. Before the revolu- 
tion of the system different prices had been charged 
between different localities, the postage varying from 
four pence to one shilling eight pence on a single 
letter ; if more than one sheet was sent, no matter 
how thin the paper, the letter required double post- 
age. The average postage on inland letters was 
about nine pence. The receiver was compelled to 
pay the postage, a provision that worked great injus- 
tice and hardship in many cases. Members of Par- 
liament were permitted to frank letters, and this led 
in many instances to great abuses, as many mem- 
bers were not above selling their franks and thus 
defrauding the government. 

159 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

The reform was bitterly opposed by the postal 
officials ; they declared that it would work the ruin 
of the service, that it was impracticable, visionary 
and ridiculous. Yet, in spite of all opposition, the 
great progressive step proposed by Hill was taken ; 
and from that day to this the postal service of Great 
Britain has moved steadily forward, making greater 
and more beneficent advances than has any other 
department of the English government. 

Important as was this forward step, it exerted no 
immediate or special influence upon the discon- 
tented masses. The unrest of the time sprang 
from the misery and wretchedness of the poor, from 
stagnation in business, from monopoly in food, from 
the denial to the workers of all voice in the govern- 
ment, and from other causes that appealed immedi- 
ately to the popular imagination. Few reformers 
gave the postal service any serious consideration ; 
and thus, even had the Liberal ministry introduced 
the reform before public opinion compelled the step, 
it would have exerted but little influence in check- 
ing the increasing disfavor in which the government 
stood with the public. One section of the com- 
munity demanded the immediate abolition of the 
Corn Laws ; another very considerable body in- 
sisted upon electoral concessions. These were the 
vital issues in the opinion of the manufacturing 

i6o 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

classes and the artisans, as well as of the poor of 
England. And, unfortunately for the Liberal min- 
istry, there was a growing conviction among the 
poor that the Whigs were as indifferent to their 
welfare as the Tories were. Discontent, as we have 
already observed, was rife, and the party in power 
at times of general unrest always receives the blame 
for whatever goes wrong or is unpopular. The 
mishaps and the blunders of the ministry also con- 
tributed largely to its growing unpopularity. Its 
strength diminished till, on the fourth of June, 1 841, 
Sir Robert Peel forced a vote on a want-of-confi- 
dence motion that he had introduced. The min- 
istry was discredited and an appeal made to the 
electors, with the result that the Tories carried the 
country by a substantial majority. At this time, 
however, Richard Cobden was elected to the House 
of Commons, and thus the little radical band in 
Parliament was reinforced by the accession of the 
most persuasive reformer of the time. 

It was in 1841 also that the work of the League 
received a powerful impetus in one of those strange 
and unforeseen occurrences that not infrequently 
come to the aid of great movements at critical times, 
and which may be compared to mighty tributaries 
suddenly pouring swiftly flowing and compulsive 
waters into broad but sluggish streams ; incidents 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

that thoughtless men call chance happenings, but 
which appear to be part of a Divine plan to those 
who believe there is no such thing as the caprice of 
chance, and who hold with Lowell that, so long as 
the children of Progress are at all points faithful to 
their charge — 

" behind the dim unknown, 

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." 

This fortunate occurrence was the solemn compact, 
to which I have already alluded, made between 
Richard Cobden and John Bright, to consecrate 
their lives to the cause until it became victorious.* 

* Although the incident that caused Mr. Bright 's entrance into the 
Anti-Corn-Law conflict has already been briefly told, it will perhaps 
be not amiss to quote here the ampler and touching description of the 
event given by the great orator himself. The decision he then made 
marked not only the supreme moment in the life of this illustrious 
man, but also the entrance upon a public career of one of the greatest 
moral influences that has been felt in the English Parliament for gener- 
ations. " It was," said Mr. Bright, "in September, in the year 1841. 
The suff"erings throughout the country were fearful ; and you who live 
now, but were not of age to observe what was passing in the country 
then, can have no idea of the state of your country in that year. . . . 
At that time I was at Leamington, and I was, on the day when Mr. 
Cobden called upon me — for he happened to be there at the time on a 
visit to some relatives — I was in the depths of grief, I might almost 
say of despair ; for the light and sunshine of my house had been 
extinguished. All that was left on earth of my young wife, except 
the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief happiness, was lying 
still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden called upon me 
as his friend, and addressed me, as you might suppose, with words of 
condolence. After a time he looked up and said, * There are thou- 
sands of houses in England at this moment where wives, mothers and 
children are dying of hunger. Now,' he said, 'when the first par- 

162 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

Seldom in the history of our prosaic modern time 
has there been seen a more inspiring picture than 
that presented by these two apostles of progress 
and civilization, one with eye lighted by that enthu- 
siasm which is kindled only when a lofty soul has 
been overmastered by the might of a great moral 
truth, and the other smitten by a grievous sorrow 
that had touched the deeper wellsprings of his being, 
and made it possible for him to feel for every starv- 
ing man, woman and child in England as if the 
dying one were in his own desolate home. In speak- 
ing of this strange spectacle Mr. Morley observes : 

"The picture of two plain men leaving their homes and their busi- 
ness, and going over the length and the breadth of the land to convert 
the nation, had about it something apostolic : it presented something 
so far removed from the stereotyped ways of political- activity, that this 
circumstance alone, apart from the object for which they were plead- 
ing, touched and affected people, and gave a certain dramatic interest 
to the long pilgrimages of the two men who had only become orators 
because they had something to say, which they were intent on bringing 
their hearers to believe, and which happened to be true, wise, and 
just." * 

oxysm of your grief is past, I would advise you to come with me, and 
we will never rest till the Corn Law is repealed.' I accepted his invi- 
tation. I knew that the description he had given of the homes of 
thousands was not an exaggerated description. I felt in my conscience 
that there was a work that somebody must do, and therefore I accepted 
his invitation, and from that time we never ceased to labour hard on 
behalf of the resolution which we had made." (Morley's "Life of 
Cobden," p. 24.) 

* Morley' s "Life of Cobden," p. 24. 
163 



How England Averted a Revoiutmi of Force 

" For seven years," says Mr. Bright, " the discus- 
sion on that one question — whether it was good for a 
man to have half a loaf or a whole loaf — for seven 
years the discussion was maintained, I will not say with 
doubtful result, for the result was never doubtful, and 
never could be in such a cause ; but for five years or 
more we devoted ourselves without stint; every work- 
ing hour almost was given up to the discussion and to 
the movement in connection with this question." * 

The agitation of the League had been so vigor- 
ous, that some time before the election of Mr. 
Cobden several of the great dailies opened their 
columns to the new movement. In London the 
most influential of these journals was the Daily 
Chronicle. On its staflF were many of the brightest 
young men in Great Britain — among them Charles 
Mackay, the poet and journalist ; Charles Dickens, 
a Parliamentary reporter, even then beginning to 
attract the attention of editors by his inimitable 
sketches ; also Thomas Moore and Thomas Camp- 
bell, the poets. To Charles Mackay was assigned 
the work of editing the Corn-Law column, and also 
of preparing many of the Chronicle' s leaders on 
free trade and kindred subjects. 

Thomas Moore's connection with the Chronicle 
began in 1841. He was to contribute a poem a 

* Ibid., p. 24. 

164 



" Carrying the War into Africa *' 

week on topics of the hour. The author of " Lalla 
Rookh " was an ardent free trader ; after the 
Chronicle grew kind, he wrote verses on the Corn 
Laws that were widely copied. Like many others 
of the reformers, Moore in 1842 was led to think 
that Sir Robert Peel was veering rapidly from the 
position of leader of the protectionist party to that 
of an advocate of free trade ; and, like many other 
students of public problems at that time, he beheved 
that the fast rising tide in favor of repeal through- 
out England would force the government to accede 
at an early day to the popular demand for cheap 
bread and repeal the odious class-laws. The poet 
made the common mistake of reformers in suppos- 
ing that long-entrenched money interests could be 
overthrown before the conscience and the reason of 
the nation had been so aroused as to make power- 
less the innumerable devices of the Opposition. 
On the twenty-third of February, 1842, he pub- 
lished some verses entitled " Threnody on the 
Approaching Death of Old Mother Corn Law," 
the opening lines of which are as follows : 

'• I see, I see, it is coming fast, 
Our dear old Corn Law's doom is cast! 
That ancient Lady, of high degree. 
Is as near her end as she well can be ; 
And much will all vulgar eaters of bread 
Rejoice, when they see her fairly dead. 
165 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

For never, from ancient Medea down 
To the late Mrs. Brownrigg, of bad renown, 
Has any old dame been known, they aver, 
Who could starve and carve poor folks like her. 
But, dear old damsel, they wrong her sadly, 
'T was all by the law she behaved so badly ; 
And God forbid, whatever the event. 
That free-born Britons should e'er repent 
Wrongs done by Act of Parliament. 

"But is it, indeed, then come to this. 
After all our course of high-bred bliss ? 
Poor, dear old Corn Law ! — prop of the Peers, 
And glory of Squires, through countless years. 
Must all thy structure of Pounds and Pence, 
Like another Babylon, vanish hence ? 
Must towering Prices and Rents sublime. 
Thus topple, like turrets touch'd by time, — 
And all, for what ? that each shirtless oaf, 
May bolt, for breakfast, a larger loaf! 
For this one vulgar purpose alone 
Is all this inelegant mischief done." 

Thomas Campbell's duties were very similar to 
Moore's. He was expected to produce a metrical 
contribution at least once a week. Among some 
stanzas entitled '* Tory Logic," by this popular poet, 
we find the following : 

" Our Corn Laws that make us so wealthy, 
Against them how dare you complain ? 
Your landlords, to make the poor healthy. 
Are temperance teachers in grain." 
i66 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

Nothing in literature is more disappointing than 
the work of a poet whose rhymes are made to order. 
In all literary production, it is perhaps true that the 
highest degree of excellence is reached only when 
the heart informs the art ; and in poetry, as nowhere 
else, it is not till the emotional depths are stirred 
that the imagination quickens into beauty. A poet 
whose creations have justly entitled him to a high 
place among the writers of his time, makes fre- 
quently a sorry showing when he attempts to com- 
pose verses on some subject that has not deeply 
appealed to his emotional nature. The above exam- 
ples from the authors of "Lalla Rookh" and of "The 
Pleasures of Hope " give impressive illustration of 
this fact. It is indeed only on rare occasions, when 
a true prophet-poet — that is, a poet whose imagina- 
tion is peculiarly sensitive to the moral verities — is 
deeply stirred by some moral wrong, that it seems 
possible to infuse the true poetic spirit into 
this kind of didactic verse. It may indeed be con- 
ceded that poetry on economic problems is pretty 
hard to write. Yet poor as were the so-called 
poems from the literary standpoint, they proved 
immensely effective in their influence upon the 
people ; for, in spite of the lame meter and 
the deplorable rhymes, the verses seemed to find 
their way into the hearts of the populace, who 

167 



How Rngland Averted a devolution of Force 

apparently were incapable of grasping and under- 
standing cold logic. 

Sir Robert Peel, though destined to immortalize 
himself as that English statesman of the 'forties of 
the nineteenth century who dared to "desert his 
party to save his nation," was by no means ready to 
make this move, which might mean political suicide, 
so early as 1842. Still his reform of the tariff 
served to encourage the drooping spirits of the 
League, though Mr. Cobden and other leading 
members seemed at that time to fail to appreciate 
the value to the masses of such important meas- 
ures as the Income Tax, which signalized Sir 
Robert Peel's aggressive policy — a policy that from 
first to last was full of surprises, when we remem- 
ber that the prime minister was the leader of the 
Tories. 

In 1844 considerable uneasiness was felt by some 

of the leading members of the nobility, whose 

princely incomes were due largely to the protection 

afforded by the Corn Laws. It was true that the 

good crops and other influences had served to 

strengthen the Tories, and, though many leading 

Whig statesmen had come out in favor of repeal, 

the party did not show any disposition to take so 

radical a step. But these men with large interests 

at stake and possessing, as many of them did, a 

168 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

wide knowledge of history as well as a clear under- 
standing of the profound discontent smouldering 
under the smooth surface of society, believed that, 
unless the public mind could be diverted from the 
Corn Laws before a period of depression arrived, the 
immensely valuable monopoly would be swept away 
in spite of all opposition, even as the Reform Bill 
had been enacted in spite of an overwhelming 
majority against its passage in the House of Lords. 
" It was amusing," says Mr. Mackay, " to note how 
the chiefs of the protectionist party attempted to 
draw the masses of the people to their side, on 
a false scent ; how, as was said at the time, they 
drew red herrings across the path, to bewilder the 
dogs of public opinion, and let the fox of Food 
Monopoly escape." * 

The Opposition began by resolutely denying the 
existence of the deplorable condition of the poor, 
of the widespread discontent ; and finally in 1 845 
the existence of the potato-rot, which was then 
destroying the staple crop of Ireland, was denied 
even after almost every intelligent person knew the 
potato famine to be a terrible fact. Thus we find 
the Duke of Cambridge, one of the most solicitous 
of the nobility for the maintenance of the Corn 
Tax, declaring positively that " the report of a 

* Mackay 's "Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., p. 262. 
169 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

potato famine was false " ; while the Duke of Rut- 
land " deplored the skyey influences at work in 
England, which made one person out of every three 
a croaker." 

The time came at length, however, when the 
popular pastime of denouncing as dangerous and 
unscrupulous demagogues and revolutionists all 
who insisted that the people were starving could no 
longer be indulged in ; for the nation not only 
knew the facts, but had begun to feel them. The 
long agitation, in which truths had been piled upon 
truths and appeal had been added to appeal, at last 
had had its effect upon a people in whom the con- 
science had long been to a certain extent ansesthet- 
ized by the power of wealth, of caste, of custom, 
of laws, and of ancient privileges. 

When, therefore, the facts of the contention 
could no longer be ignored, the upholders of special 
privileges came forward with explanations and 
with remedies, all of which were pitifully inade- 
quate, while some were so palpably silly as to 
render it difficult to believe that they were seriously 
advanced by noblemen claiming the possession of 
ordinary wit. 

Thus, for example. Lord John Manners became 
suddenly impressed with the idea that the wide- 
spread discontent of the workmen in the cities was 

1 70 



« Carrying the War into Africa " 

due chiefly to the change from rural to urban life 
that had long been going on. In the old England 
he imagined there was never such unrest and dis- 
content, for then the people lived in the country 
and enjoyed Arcadian life, with an abundance of 
simple pastimes such as "leap-frog and cricket." 
So possessed was this nobleman with the idea that 
he had found a panacea, that he inflicted a long 
poem on the subject upon an unappreciative 
public ; and, as if this were not enough, he pre- 
pared a lengthy pamphlet in which he urged the 
government to " look to the sports of the peo- 
ple, and lay out grounds for cricket and leap- 
frog." 

Another beneficiary of the Corn Laws made what 
seemed to him to be a discovery. The poor, he 
found, were not as welcome in the house of God as 
were the rich, and here he believed lay the cause of 
the discontent. The rich, he observed, enjoyed soft 
pews in the house of prayer by paying for them, 
while the poor " had too often to stand during the 
whole religious service." Hence he raised the cry, 
"Away with the pews ! " — as though their abolition 
would fill the stomachs of the half-starved workers 
who were unable to buy the whole loaf because of 
the iniquitous Corn Laws. 

The Duke of Richmond, though he would not 
171 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

entertain the idea of repealing the Corn Laws, 
recognized the fact that the occasion was critical. 
He therefore proposed that the rich landlords 
purchase potatoes in Portugal and dole them 
out as charity to the starving population. At 
a county meeting held in Sussex the duke ob- 
served that, though throughout different parts of 
Europe the potato crop had proved a failure, 
he was informed that in Portugal there had never 
been a better crop. Hence he urged that, " if 
there should be a failure in this country, there 
would be no difficulty in bringing potatoes from 
that country to this at a price which, though 
the labourer cannot pay, we (the land-owners) ought 
and will." * 

The leaders of the League met this seemingly 
generous proposition by a series of questions that 
showed the true intent of the nobleman's palliative 
remedy. Why, they asked, should it be right and 
proper to buy foreign potatoes, yet wrong to per- 
mit the poor to purchase foreign corn ? Why did 
the duke insist on preventing the people from 
buying Russian wheat, and yet propose to give 
them Portuguese potatoes as an act of charity ? 
The answer was obvious : The amount that the 
nobleman would pay for the potato charity would 

* Mackay's "Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., p. 267. 
17a 



" Carrying the War into Africa " 

be but a fraction of the profits that he realized 
from his grain monopoly. 

It remained for the Duke of Norfolk, however, 
to outdo all those who were so actively striving to 
save the Corn Laws with a proposition so absurd 
that it caused even the reluctant Tories to join in 
the laughter of the nation. Like the Duke of 
Richmond, he would not for a moment harbor the 
thought of meeting the emergency presented in 
the potato famine by favoring the opening of the 
ports to free grain for the people. At the same 
time, he had a remedy that he presented at the very 
meeting in Sussex at which the Duke of Richmond's 
potato charity had been exploited. In his address 
the Duke of Norfolk said : 

"In consequence of the badness of the potatoes, they should pay 
more attention to the labourer this year than ordinarily. There was 
one thing, — it was suggested in a letter by a lady the other day, — a 
thing which certainly was very warm and comfortable to the stomachs 
of the people if it could be got cheap. He endeavoured the other day 
when he was in London to buy it. He went to several places to 
enquire, and he bought a pound or two of it. But there was some 
difficulty attached to it rather than otherwise. They had not been 
accustomed to it, and might not like it. He liked it however himself. 
In India it was to the people what potatoes were in Ireland. He 
meant Curry Powder. It might be smiled at at first, but it was a 
very warming thing for potatoes and things of that description. 
Now, if the gentlemen would try it as he had done, merely taking 
a pinch and putting it into hot ^water — he did not mean to say 
that would make a soup — a very good one ; but nvhen a man came 

173 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

home and took this and had nothing better, it ixjould make him ivarm 
at his stomach, and he could go to bed better and more comfortable. 
He might be ridiculed hereafter for what he was saying, but he did not 
care one rap^* 

Such were a few of the selfish or purblind propo- 
sitions with which the advocates of the Coin 
Monopoly sought to hush the demand for simple 
justice and to stay the rising tide of human interest 
evoked by the Chartists and the Anti-Corn-Law 
League, and which were at this time beating against 
the intelligence and the conscience of England so 
powerfully that even the dullest and the most 
indifferent saw that something must be done. 

* Mackay's " Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., p. 266. 



174 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE DARK HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN 

Beginning of 1845 — T\\t Income Tax — Bread Plentiful — Interest 
Waning — Cobden's great Speech — Foretells Success. 

THE year 1845 opened gloomily for the 
League. There seemed to be a combina- 
tion of circumstances against the cause that 
it had battled for so valiantly, chief among which 
was the grov/ing popularity of the Tories, the 
stalwart upholders of the Corn Laws. The enact- 
ment of the Income Tax and of some reform tariff 
measures by Sir Robert Peel had produced a strong^ 
sentiment in his favor among the masses. They 
compared these really reformative measures of 
the Tories, which were so well calculated to lessen 
the burdens of taxation long borne by the poor, 
with the timidity and the indifference that had char- 
acterized the Melbourne ministry during the last 
years of its administration. It was claimed that 
the Tories, who represented the landed and aristo- 
cratic influences, had shown far more interest in 

175 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

the condition of the poor than the Liberals had 
done, though the latter claimed to be their special 
friends. 

The real relief felt from Sir Robert Peel's excel- 
lent reform measures, however, was insignificant in 
comparison with the influence exerted on the con- 
dition of the people by nature. For many years 
Mr. Cobden and other leading reformers had 
declared that, with an abundance of grain at a low 
price, the discontent and unrest of the people would 
abate, that work would increase, and prosperity 
return ; and during the last two years England 
had enjoyed enormous harvests. The price of 
bread had fallen. Men with full stomachs found 
work and began to hope again. The prediction of 
Cobden and his associates was verified ; but this 
very fact operated against the Anti-Corn-Law 
League. 

The people then as now looked only at the sur- 
face. They had been hungry under the Liberal 
ministry ; the Tories had given them some salu- 
tary reform legislation, they were now able to get 
cheap bread, and their condition had improved : 
therefore the Tories, they reasoned, were the 
true statesmen. And with this conclusion — falla- 
cious because it ignored the chief cause of the 

better times — the masses turned from the League, 

176 



The Dark Hour Before the Dawn 

and were clearly disposed to let well enough 
alone. They would support the Tories because 
better times had been coincident with their admin- 
istration. 

With this outlook and the result, an overwhelm- 
ing Tory majority in both houses of Parliament, 
the zeal of many Leaguers grew cold. True, the 
contributions came in liberally ; but otherwise a 
general lethargy was everywhere apparent. The 
literature of the League, which a few years before 
had been eagerly sought for and read with avidity, 
was no longer in demand. Their great meetings 
lacked the old-time enthusiasm and numbers. 
Even Cobden was beginning to bore the house with 
his constant assaults on the Corn Laws, while John 
Bright was regarded by the Opposition as a dan- 
gerous incendiary. 

Though amid all these discouragements Cobden 's 
faith did not falter, his health was rapidly giving 
way, while his private fortune had become seriously 
embarrassed. For years he had neglected his own 
personal business that the larger blessing of national 
prosperity might be enjoyed by the people ; and he 
now stood on the brink of what seemed to be irre- 
trievable ruin. 

There were rifts however in the cloud. All who 
listened to Cobden were not tired of his clear. 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

earnest, logical and masterly addresses. Among his 
auditors was a great statesman who had for years 
been compelled to dissect carefully his arguments 
that he might meet them ; and this statesman, being 
a far more honest man than are most politicians, 
soon found himself questioning the correctness of 
his own position. 

For some time many Tories had expressed 
grave uneasiness about the attitude of Sir Robert 
Peel on the Corn Laws. A horrible suspicion 
was growing that the prime minister had become 
infected with the heresy of the League. In Feb- 
ruary and early March of 1845 the Corn Laws 
came up, as come up they were sure to do at every 
session ; and during this discussion Mr. Cobden 
made one of the greatest speeches, if not the most 
masterly effort, of his life in Parliament. Sir Rob- 
ert, who was seated by the brilliant young statesman 
Sidney Herbert, began taking notes. Soon how- 
ever he crumpled up the paper, threw it on the 
floor, and turning to Mr. Herbert said : "You will 
have to answer him ; I cannot." That night, it is 
said, on crossing the lobby some one remarked : 
"Sir Robert, that speech of Cobden's will be hard 
to answer." Whereupon the prime minister, turn- 
ing, replied in a low voice but with great earnest- 
ness : "// is unanswerable''' 

178 



The Dark Hour Before the Dawn 

Still the motion to repeal the Corn Laws was 
overwhelmingly defeated, and it appeared to most 
that long years of weary waiting and toil would be 
required to break down the well-nigh insurmount- 
able opposition. 

Cobden however, with his clear vision, saw fur- 
ther and better than most of his confreres. He 
knew that England had been educated on this 
question. He knew that the failure of a crop 
would compel the nominally temporary opening 
of the ports for grain ; but that, if once opened, 
they would never be closed again. In the summer 
of 1845, ^" ^ public address, he declared that 
the ministers were even then contemplating the 
repeal of the Corn Laws ; and with great earnest- 
ness he continued : " I know what they are 
thinking as well as if I were in their hearts. It 
is this : they are all afraid that this Corn Law 
cannot be maintained — no, not a rag of it, during a 
period of scarcity prices, of a famine season, 
such as we had in '39, '40, and '41. They 
know it. They are prepared when such a time 
comes to abolish the Corn Laws. They have 
made up their minds to it. They are going to 
repeal them, as I told you — mark my words — 
at a season of distress. That distress may come ; 

aye, three weeks of shov/ery weather, when the 

179 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

wheat is in bloom or ripening, would repeal those 
Corn Laws." * 

Even as he was speaking nature was at work, and 
events were hurrying on that should prove in a 
startling manner the truth of his prophecy. 

*Morley's "Life of Cobden," p. 46. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

FAMINE J IDS THE LEAGUE 

Only Want arouses a People — The Irish Potato-rot of 1845 — 
Sir Robert Peel in 1845 — Lord John Russell — The 'Times — 
Vain Attempt to change Ministry. 

S HAS been observed, the masses of a 
nation are extremely conservative. They 
suffer long before they complain ; they 
complain for years, perhaps for decades, before 
they rebel. It is not enough to convince them of 
the injustice that works oppression. They must 
feel the pangs of hunger, and suffer in other ways, 
before they seriously entertain ideas of resistance. 
And it is a noteworthy fact that not infrequently — 
after generations of oppression, after the suffering 
and poverty of millions have risen to such a point 
as to seem intolerable, and after they have been 
plainly, repeatedly, and even continuously shown 
the cause of their wretchedness — they still shrink 
from demanding, as with one voice, their just rights, 
till Nature with stern mien lays a heavy hand upon 

iSi 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

them. It was only after years of want, famine and 
distress in the land that the French Revolution 
became inevitable ; and so in England, after the 
people had been thoroughly informed by an educa- 
tional campaign carried on without intermission for 
eight years, they continued to bear their burdens, 
and, so long as the crops remained good, flocked to 
the standard of their oppressors in such numbers 
as entrenched them strongly in power. Though by 
a wise and far-seeing statesman a revolutionary sen- 
timent might have been discerned smouldering deep 
down in the hearts of millions, there was apparent 
no organized attempt on the part of the breadwin- 
ners to insist upon those radical measures that their 
condition imperatively demanded. 

Such was the condition of affairs when in the 
early autumn of 1845 ^^ ^§^7 rumor gained cur- 
rency — a rumor that filled the landed class with 
grave forebodings, and which roused the Anti-Corn- 
Law League from its lethargy. According to this 
report, the rainy season had produced rot in the 
potato that was the staple food of Ireland. With- 
out the potato, and with ports closed to cortl, tens 
of thousands of English subjects would starve to 
death. The Tory press was prompt to deny the 
absurd report, which the editors were sure was an 
alarmist cry manufactured by the League ; but as 



Famine Aids the League 

the days passed the indisputable confirmation of the 
terrible news made doubt impossible to all who were 
willing to admit the truth. Instantly the League 
was alive, Cobden, Bright, and other clear-sighted 
leaders saw full well that agitation now meant every- 
thing ; and, as though by magic, the press began to 
pour forth its pamphlets and leaflets, while the 
Liberal journals opened fire all along the line. 
Great meetings were held throughout England. 

Sir Robert Peel appreciated the fact that a crisis 
was at hand. He was in many respects far in 
advance of the great statesmen of his day, and he was 
— what many of them were not — honest, sincere, and 
brave. He did not wish to be a Free Trader ; he 
desired to uphold the Corn Laws : but he loved the 
truth and the welfare of his nation more than he 
loved his party — far more than he loved himself. 
Mr. Cobden and the League had by slow degrees 
forced the honest but slow-thinking statesman to 
believe in the wisdom and justice of their posi- 
tion, and this was his mental attitude when the 
grave news of the famine fell upon Tory ears as falls 
the roar of the breakers on the hearing of the crew 
of a storm-beaten bark. 

Peel now saw clearly that, in order to avert or at 
least to minimize the danger of a forcible revolu- 
tion, it was necessary to take prompt measures for 

183 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

the relief of the people. In the autumn of 1845 
he summoned the ministry to discuss the feasi- 
bility of temporarily opening the ports. Someone 
objected, stating that if they were opened it might 
be difficult to effect a closure again ; and the prime 
minister replied that he had grave doubts as to 
whether they ever could be closed again, when once 
they had been opened. At this the majority of the 
ministry refused to accede to his proposal. 

At about this time Lord John Russell, then the 
leader of the Liberals, came out squarely for the 
immediate and unconditional repeal of the Corn 
Laws. On the twenty-second of November he 
sent out from Edinburgh his famous letter to his 
constituents in London, in which he insisted that 
the present condition of the country could not be 
viewed without apprehension : " delay would pro- 
duce a degree of suffering frightful to contemplate"; 
bold action might avert serious evils, and he urged 
the importance of union, in order to put an end to 
the system " which had been proved to be the 
blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the 
source of bitter division among classes, the 
cause of penury, fever, and crime among the 
people." This was the first time that Lord John 
Russell had committed himself to free trade and 
the repeal of the Corn Laws, and it necessarily 

184 



Famine Aids the League 

produced a tremendous impression throughout 
Great Britain. 

Scarcely had the excitement caused by this letter 
begun to wane, when another sensation arose : 
" On the fourth of December, 1 845," to use the 
language of Dr. Mackay, " great political excite- 
ment was created in London and all the great cities 
by an apparently authoritative announcement in the 
T'imeSy that Sir Robert Peel had not only become a 
convert to the principles of free trade generally, but 
had resolved to propose, at the opening of Parlia- 
ment in January, the total, immediate, and uncon- 
ditional abolition of the Corn Laws ; and that Sir 
Robert in the Commons, and the Duke of Welling- 
ton in the Lords, would publicly state the fact, and 
stake the existence of their administration on the 
passing of the measure. 

" Opinion was staggered by the announcement. 
Some people thought they were imposed upon by an 
elaborate hoax, and the Glasgow Tories denounced 
it in plain, uncourteous speech as a lie. Even the 
Liberals, wilHng to believe, were yet afraid to give 
it credence. On the following day the 'Times 
repeated its assertion in two separate articles, so 
emphatically and seriously that even the dismayed 
protectionists could doubt no longer." * 

*Mackay''s "Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., p. 269. 
i?5 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

The Tories however were not disposed to yield. 
So strong was the pressure brought to bear upon 
the ministry that Peel, not being wilhng to abandon 
his position, resigned. Lord John Russell was 
summoned by the Queen to form a ministry — a 
very difficult feat, in view of the fact that the Tories 
were in the majority. The attempt resulted in 
failure, and Sir Robert was again called to the helm. 
He formed a ministry in harmony with his views, 
and the opening of 1846 found the people of 
England stirred by political excitement as they had 
not been moved since the passage of the Reform 
Bill in 1832. 



86 




CHAPTER IX. 
THE REPEAL 

Sir Robert Peel announces his Conversion, 184.6 — Benjamin Dis- 
raeli — Peel declares his Programme — Acrimonious Debates — 
Peel's Courageous Stand — Bill passes Commons and Lords — 
Estimate of Victory. 

N THE twenty-second of January, 1846, 

Parliament assembled. The Queen in 

person opened the session. The address 

from the throne foreshadowed the course about to 

be outlined by the ministry. But before presenting 

his programme Peel made a notable speech, in 

which he explained that he had been compelled, 

against his prejudices and his will, to change his 

views on the subject of Free Trade. He was 

so explicit as to leave no possible doubt that he 

had become a thorough convert to the views 

of the League. He insisted that, in his opinion, 

the time had come when " that protection which he 

had taken office to maintain, must be abandoned 

forever." 

This bold announcement created consternation 
187 



Hgw England Averted a Revolution of Force 

among the Tories, and especially among the bene- 
ficiaries of the Corn Laws ; for, though the pubUc 
had been prepared for a somewhat radical stand, few 
had imagined that at the very opening of the ses- 
sion the leader of the Conservatives, who for so 
many years had in a masterly manner fought every 
attempt to repeal the Corn Laws, would come for- 
ward and announce his unqualified acceptance of the 
principles of the Manchester school. 

It is not strange, therefore, that the prime minis- 
ter instantly became the target of a general and 
furious attack. He Vv^as assailed with that intense 
bitterness which is ever manifested when a leader 
renounces a cause that he has hitherto trium- 
phantly upheld. No personalities or abusive epi- 
thets were too bitter for his late friends to indulge 
in. The Conservative press vied with the Tory 
leaders in terms of reproach. He was char- 
acterized as "Judas Iscariot," "Jerry Sneak," and 
" Jim Crow." 

It was at this time that Benjamin Disraeli — who 
had entered the House as an extreme Radical among 
the Liberals, and for nine sessions had done noth- 
ing noteworthy, though he had made many failures 
when attempting to speak and had at times rendered 
himself ridiculous — rose at a single bound to a 
commanding position by an amazingly brilliant 



'The Repeal 

arraignment of Peel. In this address that so aston- 
ished the house, DisraeH was frequently extravagant 
in his language, but that at such a time was held to 
be a virtue by the incensed Tories. He was bitter 
in his scornful sarcasm, and the teUing phrases that 
leaped in quick succession from his lips were 
received with rounds of applause. From the hour 
of that memorable phihppic Benjamin Disraeli 
entered upon a career which in success and bril- 
liancy has been equaled only by that of his great 
and life-long political antagonist WiUiam Ewart 
Gladstone, who was at that very moment a member 
of Peel's ministry. 

On the twenty-seventh of January the prime 
minister announced his programme, accompanying 
the announcement with an address of great power 
and well calculated to convince any thoughtful 
person who was not blinded by prejudice or by 
interest. The measures proposed provided for the 
complete abolition of the Corn- Law Tax after three 
years, while in the interim a fixed duty, not nearly 
so vexatious nor so injurious as the sliding scale 
then in operation, was to prevail. In the course of 
his argument Sir Robert took occasion to point 
out again the benefits and the importance to 
England of the acceptance of the principles of 
Free Trade. 

189 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

■ The division of the House on the first reading of 
the bill showed that the prime minister had a 
majority of ninety-seven ; but, as Mr. Morley 
observes : "It was a hollow and not an honest 
majority. The remarkable peculiarity of the Par- 
liamentary contest was that not a hundred members 
of the House of Commons were in favour of total 
repeal, and fewer still were in favour of immediate 
repeal. . . ..In the Upper House it was notorious 
that not one peer in ten was in his heart inclined to 
pass the Corn Bill." * 

The stubbornly fought battle was marked by 
long and heated debates, in which on the side of 
the Tories passion and prejudice were more in evi- 
dence than was either sober reason or sound argu- 
ment. The beneficiaries of special privileges are 
always ready to fight to the death, even when by so 
doing they endanger the nation's welfare, rather 
than yield that for which they make no adequate 
return, and which is frequently in its very nature 
oppressive and unjust. This fact was never more 
clearly illustrated than during the titanic battle that 
marked the Parliamentary struggle of the session of 
1846. 

Seldom has a great statesman been placed in a 
more trying position than was Peel during the long 

* Morley 's "Life of Cobden," pp. 51—52. 
190 



^he Repeal 

and acrimonious debates in which with tireless reit- 
eration speakers of his own party hurled at him the 
unjust and odious charge of having sold out his 
party. None knew better than he how much it 
had cost him to sacrifice his future, and to desert a 
party that was dear to him by a thousand ties, that 
he might save his nation. Yet, on the other hand, 
none knew better than he that no measure less radi- 
cal than the repeal of the Corn Laws could success- 
fully meet the rising storm and avert the serious 
crisis that confronted the nation. He had for some 
time watched with growing apprehension the rapid 
growth of a revolutionary spirit among the people 
on the continent of Europe. He had become con- 
vinced that a great uprising was brewing, and he 
knew the undercurrent of sentiment among the 
masses of England too well to Imagine that a pal- 
tering or a vacillating course could avert a forcible 
revolution, if, as he foresaw that it in all probability 
would do, the Continent again set the example. 
And yet, with this growing conviction, it had only 
been after a long and bitter struggle with ambition, 
with prejudice and with personal desire, that 
he had been compelled by his love of country and 
by his conviction of duty to take the stand that 
in an hour made him, even though at the time 
prime minister of the realm, virtually a statesman 

191 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

without a party. Seldom in the history of the 
statesmanship of modern times has the world 
witnessed a more inspiring or nobler spectacle than 
that presented by Sir Robert Peel in this crisis of 
English history. 

On the fifteenth of March the bill passed the 
Commons by a majority of ninety-eight. It was 
promptly sent to the House of Lords, where it 
received the indispensable championship of the 
Duke of Wellington. Personally the venerable old 
Tory did not wish repeal ; but he had the greatest 
confidence in Peel, and was not willing to jeopardize 
the peace of the nation by refusing to throw his 
great influence where the throne and the prime min- 
ister believed the cause of wisdom and justice to lie. 
The bill passed the House of Lords on the twenty- 
fifth of June. 

The announcement of the triumph set England 
aflame with enthusiasm. One of the influential 
papers of the day, in an excellent summary of the 
achievement, said : 



" A great revolution has been peacefully achieved ; a revolution 
unstained by bloodshed — having for its object no dethronement of a 
dynasty, no substitution of one tyranny in the place of another — hav- 
ing no punishment, no harshness, no evil of any kind in its composi- 
tion — ^was wrought by discussion alone, and by the inherent and irre- 
sistible powers of Truth and Justice," 

I9Z 



'The Repeal 

It was one of the ironies of fate that the very- 
day that saw the passage of the great reform 
measure in the House of Lords witnessed also the 
fall of Sir Robert Peel's ministry, on a vote touch- 
ing a coercive bill introduced into the house to meet 
a lawless condition in Ireland, due chiefly to the 
terrible suffering of the poor. Though the Tories 
heartily favored the prime minister's measure, they 
had determined to wreak revenge upon him for 
what they regarded as his betrayal, by driving him 
into private life. 

The splendid work achieved by Peel in carrying 
the Anti-Corn-Law measure to a successful issue in 
the face of such opposition as had confronted him 
in Parliament, was glory enough for one life. 

The passage of this measure was incomparably 
the most important political step taken since the 
enactment of the Reform Bill in 1832; it announced 
the entrance of England upon a long and marvel- 
ously prosperous career. It moreover marked the 
triumph of the people over a stubborn aristocracy ; 
the victory of justice over greed ; of the masses 
over the favored few. 

The Anti-Corn-Law movement was quickened 
by the new spirit of popular rule ; with its success 
Great Britain set her face steadfastly toward the 
democratic ideal. 

13 193 



How England Averted a devolution of Force 

Finally, the great popular victory averted the 
revolution of force that was without doubt threat- 
ening, and which, had it not been for the repeal, 
would probably have broken out in terrible fury in 
1848, when the Continent became the theater of 
such general uprisings of the people as had never 
before been known. 



194 



CHAPTER X. 

LESSONS FOR THE PRESENT 

Importance of Repeal and of Reform Bill — Obstacles Apparently 
Insurmountable — No Such Word as Fail — League Methods — 
Singleness of Aim — Tables Turned — Youth the Mainstay of 
Anti-Corn-Law Movement — Appeal to Reason and Conscience 
— Lessons of Chartism — Conclusion. 



1 



'^HE STORY of the social agitation that 
marked the early years of Queen Vic- 
toria's reign is replete with lessons, with 
suggestions, and with warnings to the friends of 
free government. The success achieved by the 
Anti-Corn- Law League is one of the most inspiring 
spectacles in modern history. It would be difficult 
to overestimate the value to the cause of peaceful 
progress of the repeal of the ancient class-laws that 
fostered monopoly in the breadstuff's of the English 
nation. 

This victory, and the passage of the Reform Bill 
in 1832, furnish two striking illustrations of how 
the democratic idea may be realized in the actual 
working of government in spite of opposition that 

19s 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

seems to be insurmountable. They prove that 
ancient wrongs, no matter how firmly entrenched, 
no matter how rich and powerful their upholders, 
may be overthrown by pacific methods when the 
reason of a people has been convinced of the right- 
eousness of a cause, and their sense of right 
appealed to. 

In the victory of the Reform Bill we have an 
illustration of the achievement of a revolutionary 
step in government in spite of an opposition so for- 
midable that it seemed almost absurd to imagine 
that the innovation could be introduced without the 
shock of arms. 

During the Anti-Corn-Law crusade it was often 
urged that, no matter how well the people might be 
educated on the question, the Parliament would 
never consent to the reform, as its members were 
too deeply interested in the maintenance of the 
special privilege ; that the landed interests would be 
able easily to defeat any number of representatives 
sufficient to make the bill's passage at all probable 
in the Commons ; while, should the measure by any 
chance pass the lower house, the Lords would never 
consent to ratify a proposition that would deplete 
their revenues in so substantial a way. The force 
of this argument will be appreciated when we call 
to mind these words of Mr. McCarthy : " The 

196 



Lessons for the Present 

free-trade leaders must have found their hearts sink 
within them when they came sometimes to confront 
that fortress of traditions and vested rights. Even 
after the change made in favour of manufacturing 
and middle-class interests by the Reform Bill, the 
House of Commons was still composed, as to nine- 
tenths of its whole number, by representatives of 
the landlords. The entire House of Lords was 
then constituted of the owners of land. All tradi- 
tion, all prestige, all the dignity of aristocratic insti- 
tutions, seemed to be naturally arrayed against the 
new movement." * 

And yet — with the great press closed to the 
League, with the landed interests and the nobility 
a unit against the reform, with the church either 
openly in sympathy with the Tories or discreetly 
silent, with the Chartists fighting the repealers as 
vigorously as the Conservatives were doing, and 
with Parliament overwhelmingly in favor of retain- 
ing the odious measure — the League so aroused the 
moral sentiment of England that the unwilling 
government was forced to bow before the might of 
an awakened national conscience. 

The fact that in a period of eight years this little 
band of moral heroes was able to work so mighty a 

* Justin McCarthy, "History of Our Own Times," Am. ed., 

vol. I., p. 222. 

197 



How England Averted a ^.evolution of Force 

change from the old order to the new — a revolution, 
in fact — should prove to all reformers that there 
need be no such word as fail^ if a just and true 
cause can call to its aid a few men willing to dedi- 
cate their very existence to its triumph, and who 
will exercise wisdom in their work, as well as the 
enthusiasm born of a passionate love of justice. 

The Anti-Corn- Law League did not seek victory 
in a day ; but it did set out to convince the reason 
and to arouse the conscience of every man and 
woman of intelligence and conviction who was open 
to the truth. By working persistently on this line 
the reformers assured final victory. 

The methods employed by the League for reach- 
ing and arousing the conscience of England are so 
helpfully suggestive to us to-day that we may here 
well make a resume of them : 

With the government, with the preponderance of 
the wealth of the nation, and with the opinion- 
forming agencies actively hostile, the League organ- 
ized its campaign and carried it to success by syste- 
matic educational methods. These embraced a 
lecture bureau employing a number of trained, able, 
wise and temperate speakers, who succeeded in 
forming clubs or associations, i. e., centers of inter- 
est, through which the main organization was 
enabled to reach an increasing number of voters at 

198 



Lessons for the Present 

each successive election. The printing-press also 
ably supplemented the lecturers ; when the great 
journals refused to give a hearing, the League set 
at work printing tracts, questions and answers, brief 
and pointed arguments, songs, popular poems, 
fables, and stories, till the great body of English- 
men had been reached and intelligently appealed to. 
This propaganda by tracts and leaflets was further 
reinforced by a weekly organ that chronicled the 
news of the movement, while teeming with masterly 
arguments in favor of the cause. By having one 
recognized official organ, instead of a score of weak 
and ill-printed journals each leading a precarious 
existence, the cause was greatly strengthened. 
Those interested in the League were sufficient in 
number to support one paper and make it a great 
power in England, far more effective than was the 
host of warring Chartist organs that sprang up like 
mushrooms on every side and most of which lived 
but a short time, then disappeared. 

In the great cities mass meetings were frequently 
held, at which the strongest men in the movement 
were present. These meetings were carried on with 
the same moral fervor that marks the great religious 
revivals of our time. Moreover, those who attended 
them were supplied with packages of printed matter 

that was pretty sure to interest the reader, and to 

199 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

convince him that there was much at least to be 
said in favor of the cause. Often the lecturers 
v/ent out by twos, as did Cobden and Bright on 
many occasions. Thus one supplemented the 
other; and, in places where great interest was 
shown, one of the speakers could remain for 
other lectures and so better organize the move- 
ment in the place, while his colaborer filled the 
next engagement. 

And so, in that great movement in this Re- 
public to which millions have rallied, these con- 
ditions are not to be ignored by persons at all 
familiar with the menace confronting our 
American institutions to-day. There is not need 
to here consume any space by recounting the 
charges which are so freely made against the 
Roman Hierarchy and the children of Rome in 
America. Persons not familiar with the certain 
fact that a sinister influence is eating at the 
very vitals of our liberal democracy need only 
to read a very few of the many good books 
(referred to in the introduction) ably authored 
and widely circulated, but which have as yet 
been too lightly considered. 

Those in any degree familiar with that mag- 
nificent movement to which the Free Press De- 
fense League, of Fort Scott, Kan., is devoted, 

200 



Lessons for the Present 

can readily see in the foregoing a method of 
procedure not entirely unlike that being used by 
the Free Press Defense League. The censor- 
ship and subsidizing of the daily press by the 
Roman hierarchy to such a degree that very lit- 
tle news derogatory to priests, prelates or, in 
fact, any part of the papal system appears in its 
columns, must be broken. 

As, in England, "The League" became the 
great national organ of the Anti-Corn-Law 
movement, so in America the necessity of con- 
centrating upon some one well-edited journal in 
order that it might become a national organ has 
already resulted in making The Menace, pub- 
lished at Aurora, Mo., the most powerful, abso- 
lutely independent press in the country. Recent 
meetings held under the auspices of the Free 
Press Defense League testify to the popularity 
and the success, as well as the necessity, for a 
continued campaign of lectures. As was done 
in England, so should we in America discourage 
all attempts to make this movement a vehicle 
for the convenient carriage of any other reform 
theory until such a time as papal aggression and 
encroachment are forever checked. 

At such a time friends of other reforms and 
opponents of special privilege will, no doubt, find 

201 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

in the Free Press Defense League and The 
Menace, mighty organizations very kindly dis- 
posed toward those things which will bring about 
a betterment of conditions for the masses. 

The mob spirit, attendant in so many cases 
upon efforts to hold lectures in various cities 
over the country, to be sure, is a menace to free 
speech; but while a menace to free speech, the 
proper publicity of such lawlessness is a weapon 
in the hands of those seeking to bring about a 
more wholesome respect for our constitutional 
guarantees; for it shows conclusively that the 
sinister enemy to which the Free Press Defense 
League, The Menace, and the patriotic millions 
are devoting their attention will stoop to any 
level to accomplish a desired end and prohibit 
a discussion of those charges so amply sup- 
ported by evidence as to make it undesirable to 
Rome for such meetings to be held. 

It only remains for each citizen already in- 
terested to see to it that he or she encourages a 
wider distribution of all that tends to quicken 
the consciousness of the people. The persecu- 
tions of, and unjust treatment accorded, patriotic 
speakers in towns and cities, either by city or 
State authorities, subservient to Rome, in collab- 
oration with dutiful sons of the hierarchy, can 

202 



Lessons for the Present 

only serve to help the Cause when given proper 
publicity. 

Some view the anti-papal movement as radi- 
cal, while others view it as an opposition to the 
religion of Rome; the enlightened thinker knows 
it is neither. All of the recommendations made 
at the instance of the Free Press Defense 
League through its lectures, the columns of The 
Menace, or otherwise, have been nobly conserva- 
tive. Even the resolution for the investigation 
of political Romanism, which the daily press has 
ignored as religiously as though it were so much 
poison, but which has been published in a num- 
ber of the Masonic organs and some of the 
church papers, is so thoroughly in harmony with 
the spirit of democracy as to be as ultra-con- 
servative as a democratic measure could be. It 
seeks to establish a Congressional investigating 
committee, vested with power to assemble wher- 
ever occasion demands, to examine the teachings 
of the Roman hierarchy and its attitude in 
spirit and action toward our public schools, the 
free press, the right of free speech and public 
assembly, the right of freedom of thought in 
matters of conscience, and the principle of sepa- 
ration of church and state. 

The purpose of this resolution, as well as 

203 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

the purpose of every recommendation to which 
the Free Press Defense League has given its 
support, is merely to bring before the American 
public, in a vivid manner, a presentation of ac- 
tual facts in order that the allegations may be 
brought before the bar of public opinion and, 
if need be, action taken that will insure the exit 
of the Roman Catholic political machine from 
politics; which will necessarily be accompanied 
by a vast shaking-up of the papal system 
throughout the land; a shaking-up that will re- 
sult in nothing more or less than that the Roman 
Catholic Church shall take its place by the side 
of our many great Protestant denominations. 

The Anti-Corn-Law League addressed the 
reason and the conscience of England. Never 
was an economic measure presented more 
strongly to the ethical side of man's nature. 
With Richard Cobden and with John Bright the 
reform came to be a religion, and their enthu- 
siasm was infectious. 

The lecturers, the poets, and the writers of 
tracts made their appeals directly to conscience 
— to the divine afflatus in the individual. They 
pleaded with those in easy circumstances to 
think of the starving; and, inasmuch as they set 
their cause on a high moral or spiritual plane 

204 



Lessons for the Present 

and avoided all threats, they reached and 
warmed into active Hfe the hearts of men and 
of women who had all their lives been the serv- 
ants of prejudice and the slaves of self-interest. 
Can we afford to do less? Would not a contin- 
uation of the present rapid success with which 
Rome and special privilege, walking hand in 
hand, are capturing our daily press prove preju- 
dicial to all other, even though later, interests 
of the people as truly as it is now proving prej- 
udicial to the interests of our free institutions 
and the liberties of individuals to an extent 
which, by reason of this very censorship, is not 
yet realized? 

The enactment of laws, so long as the people 
remain in ignorance and our seats of govern- 
ment in the control of the enemy — if such a 
thing were possible — would merely be pretense 
at finding a remedy. 

We must strike boldly at the fountain-head, 
with vast programs of publicity well executed 
through the press and public platform, through 
leaflets, pamphlets, and all other available 
sources ; and thus educate our Protestant hordes 
to a thorough familiarity with those things 
which have accompanied Roman dominancy in 
every other land, and the fact that our own land 

205 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

is suffering in just the degree that we are per- 
mitting papal encroachment, through Jesuit- 
ical tactics, upon our liberties. 

Gerald Massey, in a preface to his reform 
poems of the Anti-Corn-Law period, expressed 
his realization of the fact that the cause for 
which he and his friends had wrought, though 
for a time it had appeared lost, was magnifi- 
cently triumphant; and that without bloodshed, 
without the destruction of life or property, and 
without pitting hate against hate, or arousing 
class against class. It is precisely along this 
line that the Free Press Defense League is 
working. 

In the Anti-Corn-Law victory, however, it 
is well to remember that the happy issue was due 
not wholly to the League. As we have said, 
final victory was sure. Yet, had there been a 
George III. on the throne, or had the prime min- 
ister of the realm and the leader of the Oppo- 
sition been a Bourbon, we can easily see how 
England might have witnessed all the horrors 
of a bloody revolution, with its waste of life 
and its destruction of property — from which she 
would finally have arisen with hate and bitter- 
ness rife on every hand, with new dangers and 
complications to be grappled with, while lacking 

206 



Lessons for the Present 

that cool wisdom and sound judgment which are 
essential to the right settlement of any momen- 
tous issue. 

And what issue could be of greater moment 
to the American people than to maintain im- 
pregnable the fundamental guarantees of our 
Federal Constitution? Our interests are ever 
quickened at the evidence of graft and debauch- 
ery in politics, but because of the fact that the 
Roman Catholic Hierarchy's political aggres- 
sions have been made under the guise of 
religion, charity and other names for which we 
have reverence, we have failed to look into the 
case as carefully as the evidence will warrant. 

Our great cities are in the grip of Rome. 
Where will we find among any class of politi- 
cians, or in any branch of politics, a condition 
more significant or more corrupt than is in evi- 
dence in Chicago? The Roman Catholic House 
of the Good Shepherd in that city is benefiting 
from Sections 1 and 2 of "An act for the benefit 
of the Chicago Erring Woman's Refuge for Re- 
form, and the House of the Good Shepherd" to 
be found in "1 Private Laws of 1869, page 254." 
These sections of that law read : 

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of 
Illinois represented in General Assembly, That all of the fines col- 

207 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

lected by the City of Chicago from the keepers, inmates and 
visitors of houses of prostitution, and from any person in any 
way connected therewith, shall be set aside by said City of 
Chicago for the sole use and benefit of the Chicago Erring 
Woman's Refuge for Reform, and the House of the Good Shep- 
herd, in said city, and shall be equally divided between said two 
institutions. 

"Section 2. The board of trustees of said Erring Woman's 
Refuge for Reform and the House of the Good Shepherd shall 
have power to draw, monthly, upon said fund by their respective 
checks, that of the former to be drawn by the president and coun- 
tersigned by the secretary, and that of the latter to be drawn by 
the superior, and countersigned by the assistant superior, upon the 
treasurer or other custodian having said moneys in control or 
possession. 

Aside from the conclusive evidence which 
the very presence on the statute books of the 
sections just quoted, alone affords, showing how 
Rome lobbied for, and obtained, this legislation; 
aside from its political aspect; aside from all 
other things concerned, what Protestant Church 
would accept from a government one-half of the 
fines levied on fallen women for any purpose 
whatever? Yet the Roman Catholic Church 
plans for, procures and appropriates to its own 
peculiar uses more than $137,959.41 as a result 
of this legislation before even a word of protest 
is raised. Why should we, the apostles of 
liberty, reared to exercise our God-given powers 
of thought and reason, have hesitated so long 
to search to the very bottom a system — be it 

208 



Lessons for the Present 

styled religious, political or agnostic — that will 
even passively submit to accepting such remuner- 
ation as we know this Roman Catholic Institu- 
tion has been accepting since 1869? If this ac- 
ceptance of tainted money is not a demonstra- 
tion of a church in politics, then what is it? If 
it is not an example of corrupt practice and an 
instance of political graft and "pull," being 
wielded at the expense of the most unfortunate 
and pitiable creatures on earth, where will you 
turn to find it? 

But the exploiting of these unfortunates is a 
mere bagatelle in political significance as com- 
pared with the other aggressions of the Roman 
Catholic Church. She is seeking: to bring about 
the election of papal politicians, or subservient 
tools; the control of appointments to positions 
of preference; to procure legislation favorable 
to the many institutions peculiar to the Roman 
Catholic Church, and, in addition to all this, 
every possible subterfuge is cunningly brought 
to bear to induce officials to laxly enforce the 
laws where the hierarchy may benefit. These 
peculiar advantages gained through official, or 
any other capacity will — so surely as they are 
allowed to proceed unchecked — undermine every 
bulwark of this liberty-loving government, and 

209 



How England Averted a Revolution of Force 

to check these aggressions we, as a people, must 
oppose them by every honorable means. 

This we can do and carry the Cause to vic- 
tory if we consecrate our energies and talents 
to the task, if to wisdom we add the high moral 
enthusiasm which has ever proved irresistible 
in moving mankind. 

The peaceful settlement of this cause, how- 
ever, must of necessity depend largely upon the 
wisdom of the people in selecting as legislators 
and leaders only men of such lofty character 
that neither gold, ambition nor flattery can lure 
them from the way of Justice; nor abuse, slan- 
der or unjust criticism frighten them from the 
path of duty. 

Surely in this crucial time we can profit by 
the experience of others and draw a lesson of 
no small significance from the forties of the 
nineteenth century in Great Britain; a lesson 
that must at once prove instructive and inspiring 
to all who earnestly desire to see our greatj 
Republic fronting the Eternal Day, guided by 
wisdom, by justice and by love, and scorning 
sordid and selfish motives that seek to turn her 
from her Heaven-sent mission as the leader of 
civilization's vanguard. 



210 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



I. TYPICAL POEMS AND SONGS OF THE 

PERIOD OF THE CORN-LAW AND 

CHARTIST AGITATIONS 

As A RULE historians pay but slight heed to the influence of 
literature upon public opinion in a period of social agitation, 
while the poems of protest that appear are usually wholly 
ignored. Yet often the tract, the pamphlet, the popular song are 
powerfiil agents in a revolutionary movement ; it is quite sure that 
the poems of protest published during the Corn-Law and Chartist 
agitations were very effective. Indeed, to understand the temper of 
the time, it is absolutely necessary to catch something of the popular 
spirit from the work of the people's poets. For this reason, I give 
a number of typical productions of this revolutionary era. Some of 
these verses have but little value beyond illustrating the feeling of the 
people and their point of view when the rhymes were written ; others 
are applicable to present conditions no less than to the time that 
called them forth ; while not a few will continue to be — 

*'.... breakers of the peace, 
Till the Wrongs are righted ; 

The man-made miseries cease ; 
Till earth's Disinherited 
Beg no more to earn their bread." 

In point of time Ebenezer Elliott's rhymes come first in the reform 
verse of the period. It is an interesting fact that Southey — then 

213 



Appendix 

poet-laureate of England — took great interest in the work of the 
Corn-Law Rhymer, as did also Bulwer Lytton and Thomas Carlyle. 
The following lines on monopoly are from the exordium to Elliott's 
greatest poem, " The Village Patriarch ' ' : 

"exordium 

"Monopoly! if every funeral bough 
Of thine be hung with crimes too foul to name; 
Accursed of millions ! if already thou, 
Watch' d by mute vengeance and indignant shame. 
Art putting forth thy buds of blood and flame, 
What will thy fruitage be ? No matter — wave 
Thy branches o' er our hearts ! and, like a pall. 
Let thy broad shadow darken Freedom' s grave ! 
Not yet the Upas of the Isles shall fall, 
If aught shall stand. Spread, then, and cover all ! 
Fear'st thou the axe ? Long since the feller died ; 
And thou art deaf to thunder. But, Black Tree! 
^hine o^wn fruits nv'tll consume thee in thy pride ! 
O may thy inbred flame blast naught but thee. 
When burns the beacon which the blind shall see ! 
Meantime, I make my theme the toil and grief 
That water thee with tears — the fear and hate 
Whose mutter' d curses fan thy deadly leaf — • 
Sad, silent changes — ^burning wrongs, that wait 
To hear Delusion scream at Rapine's gate, 

* Our master's cause is lost, and Hell's undone!' " 

Elliott abhorred war and all display of physical force, or of the 
mob spirit ; yet at times he seemed to be mastered by the revolu- 
tionary temper of the period. In some of his most stirring lines he 
reflected the conviction of many of the clearest-sighted even though 
most optimistic philosophers of England, that a struggle was inevitable 
before the Corn Laws could be repealed. In the "Battle Song" the 
Corn-Law Rhymer shows a high degree of poetic imagination and 
displays intense feeling. As a hymn of war it is a fine creation j 
but it is difficult to imagine a poet who shrank from the thought of 

214 



Appendix 

bloodshed, and of the misery incident to war, penning the following 
lines, which are nothing if not militant : 

"battle SONG 

"Day, like our souls, is fiercely dark; 

What then? 'Tis day! 
We sleep no more; the cock crows — hark! 

To arms ! away ! 
They come I they come ! the knell is rung 

Of us, or them; 
Wide o'er their march the pomp is flung 

Of gold and gem. 
What collar' d hound of lawless sway, 

To famine dear — 
What pensioned slave of Attila, 

Leads in the rear ? 
Come they from Scythian wilds afar. 

Our blood to spill ? 
Wear they the livery of the Czar? 

They do his will. 
Nor tassel' d silk, nor epaulette, 

Nor plume, nor torse — 
No splendour gilds, all sternly met. 

Our foot and horse. 
But, dark and still, we inly glow, 

Condensed in ire ! 
Strike, tawdry slaves, and ye shall know 

Our gloom is fire. 
In vain your pomp, ye evil powers. 

Insults the land; 
Wrongs, vengeance, and the cause are ours, 

And God's right hand ! 
Madmen ! they trample into snakes 

The wormy clod I 
Like fire, beneath their feet awakes 

The sword of God I 
Behind, before, above, below, 

They rouse the brave ; 
Where'er they go, they make a foe, 

Or find a grave." 
215 



Appendix 

While boldly arraigning the Corn Laws as a crying wrong against 
the poor, Elliott was not blind to their faults as shown in intemper- 
ance, and in that shiftlessness which is so likely to appear in the lives 
of those who are oftener oppressed by fear for the morrow than 
buoyed up by hope of a brighter future. He perceived as did but 
few men of his time the power of beauty over the imagination of 
man, its subtile influence in softening, ennobling and enriching life. 
He knew how the humblest abode was glorified and refined by its 
presence ; in this respect, the Sheffield iron-worker anticipated the 
efforts of John Ruskin. Elliott wrote several homely poems such 
as would appeal to the simple mind of the poor about him. The 
following production is an example of this kind : 

"the home oy taste 

"You seek the home of taste, and find 

The proud mechanic there. 
Rich as a king and less a slave. 

Throned in his elbow-chair ! 
Or on his sofa reading Locke, 

Beside his open door ! 
Why start ? — why envy worth like his 

The carpet on his floor? 

"You seek the home of sluttery — 

* Is John at home ? ' you say. 
'No, sir; he's at the "Sportsman's Arms" j 
The dog-fight's o'er the way.' 
O lift the workman's heart and mind 

Above low sensual sin ! 
Give him- a home ! the home of taste ! 
Outbid the house of gin ! 

*'0 give him taste! it is the link 

Which binds us to the skies — , 
A bridge of rainbows, thrown across 
The gulf of tears and sighs ; 
ai6 



Appendix 



Or like a widower's little one — 

An angel in a child — 
That leads him to her mother's chair, 

And shews him how she smil'd." 

The Corn-Law Rhymer wrote some of the strongest lines of the 
time when all England was convulsed by the Reform-Bill agitation. 
At that period the printing-press was coming to be a greater factor 
in shaping public opinion than it had ever been before. It was the 
dawn of the day of tracts and pamphlets. The multiplication of 
printing-presses gave the poet hope of a brighter future ; inspired by 
this hope he penned the following stanzas, which give us a hint of his 
love of nature, second with Elliott only to his passion for justice : 

"the press 

"God said — 'Let there be light!' 
Grim darkness felt his might, 
And fled away ; 
Then startled seas and mountains cold 
Shone forth, all bright in blue and gold. 

And cried — ' ' T is day ! ' t is day ! ' 
* Hail, holy light ! ' exclaim' d 
The thund'rous cloud, that flamed 
O' er daisies white ; 
And, lo ! the rose, in crimson dress' d, 
Lean'd sweetly on the lily's breast; 

And, blushing, murmured — 'Light!' 
Then was the skylark born ; 
Then rose th' embattl'd corn; 
Then floods of praise 
Flow'd o'er the sunny hills of noon; 
And then, in stillest night, the moon 

Pour'd forth her pensive lays. 
Lo, heaven's bright bow is glad! 
Lo, trees and flowers all clad 
In glory, bloom ! 
And shall the mortal sons of God 
Be senseless as the trodden clod, 
217 



Appendix 



And darker than the tomb ? 
No, by the mind of man ! 
By the swart artisan ! 
By God, oar Sire ! 
Our souls have holy light within, 
And every form of grief and sin 
Shall see and feel its fire. 
By earth, and hell, and heav'n. 
The shroud of souls is riven ! 
Mind, mind alone 
Is light, and hope, and life, and power! 
Earth's deepest night, from this bless' d hour, 
The night of minds, is gone ! 
« The Press ! ' all lands shall sing ; 
The Press, the Press we bring. 
All lands to bless : 
O pallid Want ! O Labour stark ! 
Behold, we bring the second ark ! 

The Press! the Press! the Press!" 



We come now to two fine poems that were referred to in the body 
of this book, and which set before us the pitiful lot of women and 
children in our boasted modern civilization. Elizabeth Barrett's 
"Cry of the Children" and Thomas Hood's "Song of the Shirt" 
will live in literature long after this present age of greed shall have 
given place to a worthier time. Here follow the poems : 

"the cry of the children 

*'*$eO, ^eO, Ti irpoaSipKeadi ix'&fxjj.aaiv, reKva.' — Medea. 

<' Do YE hear the children weeping, O my brothers. 
Ere the sorrow comes with years ? 
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers. 

And t/iai cannot stop their tears. 
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows. 
The young birds are chirping in the nest. 
The young fawns are playing with the shadows. 

The young flowers are blowing toward the west — 
218 



Appendix 



But the young, young children, O my brothers. 

They are weeping bitterly ! 
They are weeping, in the playtime of the others, 

In the country of the free. 

"Do you question the young children in the sorrow. 

Why their tears are falling so ? 
The old man may weep for his to-morrow 

Which is lost in Long Ago, 
The old tree is leafless in the forest, 

The old year is ending in the frost, ■ 
The old wound, if stricken, is the sorest. 

The old hope is hardest to be lost: 
But the young, young children, O my brothers, 

Do you ask them why they stand 
Weeping sore before the bosoms of their mothers, 

In our happy Fatherland ? 

**They look up with their pale and sunken faces. 

And their looks are sad to see. 
For the man's hoary anguish draws and presses 

Down the cheeks of infancy. 
'Your old earth,' they say, *is very dreary, 

Our young feet,' they say, 'are very weak! 
Few paces have we taken, yet are weary — 

Our grave-rest is very far to seek. 
Ask the aged why they weep, and not the children, 

For the outside earth is cold. 
And we young ones stand without, in our bev^^ildering. 

And the graves are for the old. 

*<'True,' say the children, 'it may happen 

That we die before our time : 
Little Alice died last year — her grave is shapen 

Like a snowball in the rime; 
We looked into the pit prepared to take her. 

Was no room for any work in the close clay ! 
From the sleep wherein she lieth none will wake her. 

Crying, "Get up, little Alice! it is day." 
If you listen by that grave, in sun and shower, 

with your ear down, little Alice never cries ! 
Z19 



Appendix 



Could we see her face, be sure we should not know her. 
For the smile has time for growing in her eyes. 

And merry go her moments, lulled and stilled in 
The shroud by the kirk-chime ! 

It is good when it happens,' say the children, 
'That we die before our time.' 

«*Alas, alas, the children! they are seeking 

Death in life, as best to have ! 
They are binding up their hearts away from breaking. 

With a cerement from the grave. 
Go out, children, from the mine and from the city ; 

Sing out, children, as the little thrushes do ; 
Pluck your handfuls of the meadow-cowslips pretty ; 

Laugh aloud, to feel your fingers let them through ! 
But they answer, 'Are your cowslips of the meadows 

Like our weeds anear the mine ? 
Leave us quiet in the dark of the coal-shadows. 

From your pleasures fair. and fine ! 

" 'For oh,' say the children, <we are weary. 

And we cannot run or leap ; 
If we cared for any meadows, it were merely 

To drop down in them and sleep ; 
Our knees tremble sorely in the stooping. 

We fall upon our faces, trying to go. 
And, underneath our heavy eyelids drooping. 

The reddest flower would look as pale as snow. 
For, all day, we drag our burden tiring, 

Through the coal-dark, underground; 
Or, all day, we drive the wheels of iron 

In the factories, round and round. 

•"For, all day, the wheels are droning, turning; 

Their wind comes in our faces. 
Till our hearts turn ; our heads with pulses burning, 

And the walls, turn in their places; 
Turns the sky in the high window, blank and reeling, 

Turns the long light that drops adown the wall. 
Turn the black flies that crawl along the ceiling. 

All are turning, all the day, and we with all ; 



Appendix 



And, all day, the iron wheels are droning. 
And sometimes we could pray : 
*<0 ye wheels'" (breaking out in a mad moaning), 
"Stop ! be silent for to-day !" 

" Ay ! be silent ! Let them hear each other breathing 

For a moment, mouth to mouth. 
Let them touch each other's hands, in a fresh wreathing 

Of their tender human youth ! 
Let them feel that this cold metallic motion 

■ Is not all the life God f^ishions or reveals, 
Let them prove their inward souls against the notion 

That they live in you, or under you, O wheels ! 
Still, all day, the iron wheels go onward. 

Grinding life down from its mark, 
And the children's souls, which God is calling sunward. 

Spin on blindly in the dark. 



" Now, tell the poor young children, O my brothers. 

To look up to Him and pray. 
So the blessed One, who blesseth all the others. 

Will bless them another day. 
They answer, 'Who is God that He should hear us, 

While the rushing of the iron wheels is stirred ? 
When we sob aloud, the human creatures near us 

Pass by, hearing not, or answer not a word ! 
And ive hear not (for the wheels in their resounding) 

Strangers speaking at the door : 
Is it likely God, with angels singing round Him, 

Hears our weeping any more? 

"'Two words, indeed, of praying we remember, 
And, at midnight's hour of harm, 
"Our Father," looking upward in the chamber, 
We say softly for a charm ; 
We know no other words except " Our Father," 

And we think that, in some pause of angels' song, 
God may pluck them with the silence sweet to gather. 

And hold both within His right hand which is strong. 
"Our Father!" If He heard us. He would surely 

2ZI 



Appendix 

(For they call Him good and mild) 
Answer, smiling down the steep world very purely, 
*< Come and rest with me, my child." 

" • But no ! ' say the children, weeping faster, 
' He is speechless as a stone — 
And they tell us, of His image is the master 

Who commands us to work on ; 
Go to ! ' say the children, ' up in Heaven 

Dark, wheel-like, turning clouds are all we find ; 
Do not mock us, grief has made us unbelieving. 

We look up for God, but tears have made us blind.' 
Do you hear the children weeping and disproving, 

O my brothers, what ye preach ? 
For God's possible is taught by His world's loving — 

And the children doubt of each ! 

"And well may the children weep before you : 

They are weary ere they run ; 
They have never seen the sunshine, nor the glory 

Which is brighter than the sun ^ 
They know the grief of man, but not the wisdom ; 

They sink in man's despair, without its calm ; 
Are slaves, without the liberty in Christdom ; 

Are martyrs, by the pang without the palm ; 
Are worn, as if with age, yet unretrievingly 

The harvest of its memories cannot reap, — 
Are orphans of the earthly love and heavenly. 

Let them weep ! let them weep ! 

•' They look up, with their pale and sunken faces. 

And their look is dread to see. 
For they mind you of their angels in high places. 

With eyes turned on Deity. 
* How long,' they say, • how long, O cruel nation, 

Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart, 
Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation. 

And tread onward to your throne amid the mart ? 
Our blood splashes upward, O gold-heaper. 

And your purple shows your path ; 
But the child's sob in the silence curses deeper 

Than the strong man in his wrath !' " 

222 



Appendix 



* THE SONG OF THE SHIRT 

(( With fingers weary and worn, 
With eyelids heavy and red, 
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags. 
Plying her needle and thread. 

Stitch — stitch — stitch ! 
In poverty, hunger, and dirt ; 
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch 
She sang the ♦ Song of the Shirt ! ' 



" « Work — work — work ! 

While the cock is crowing aloof! 
And work — work — work. 

Till the stars shine through the roof! 

It 's O ! to be a slave, 
Along with the barbarous Turk, 
Where woman has never a soul to save, 
If this is Christian work! 



Work — work — work, 

Till the brain begins to swim ; 
Work — work — work, 

Till the eyes are heavy and dim ! 
Seam, and gusset, and band. 

Band, and gusset, and seam. 
Till over the buttons I fall asleep, 

And sew them on in a dream ! 



"'O men, with sisters dear! 

O men, with mothers and wives I 
It is not linen you ' re wearing out. 
But human creatures' lives! 

Stitch — stitch — stitch ! 
In poverty, hunger, and dirt ; 
Sewing at once, with a double thread, 
A shroud as well as a shirt. 
223 



Appendix 



" ' But why do I talk of death ? 

That phantom of grisly bone ; 
I hardly fear his terrible shape. 
It seems so like my own. 

It seems so like my own, 
Because of the fasts I keep, 
O God ! that bread should be so dear, 
And flesh and blood so cheap ! 

*' ' Work — work — work ! 

My labour never flags ; 
And what are its wages ? A bed of straw, 
A cnist of bread, and rags. 

That shattered roof — and this naked floor- 
A table — a broken chair; 
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank 
For sometimes falling there ! 

" ' Work — work — work ! 

From weary chime to chime. 
Work — work — work. 

As prisoners work for crime! 

Band, and gusset, and seam. 
Seam, and gusset, and band. 
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed, 
As well as the weary hand. 

** ' Work — work — work ! 

In the dull December light, 
And work — work — work. 

When the weather is warm and bright- 
While underneath the eaves 
The brooding swallows cling, 
As if to show me their sunny backs, 
And twit me with the spring. 

*' ' Oh, but to breathe the breath 

Of the cowslip and primrose sweet — 
With the sky above my head, 

And the grass beneath my feet 5 
224 



Appendix 



For only one short hour 
To feel as I used to feel, 
Before 1 knew the woes of want 

And the walk that costs a meal ! 

" ' Oh, but for one short hour ! 
A respite however brief! 
No blessed leisure for love or hope, 
But only time for grief! 

A little weeping would ease my heart. 
But in their briny bed 
My tears must stop, for every drop 
Hinders needle and thread ! ' 

"With fingers weary and worn. 
With eyelids heavy and red, 
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, 
Plying her needle and thread — 

Stitch — stitch — stitch ! 
In poverty, hunger, and dirt 5 
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, — 
Would that its tone could reach the rich ! — 
She sang this * Song of the Shirt ! ' " 

"The Cry of the Children" reminds us of Dr.' Charles Mackay's 
noble plea for the children of the poor, which did much for the help- 
less ones during this period of- unrest and growth. In regard to this 
production Mackay gave the following interesting facts : 

"Soon after the appearance of this poem, H. R. H. Prince Albert 
deputed her Majesty's physician, the late Sir James Clark, to call upon 
the Author, and request his permission to reprint it for cheap and 
gratuitous circulation among the people, in aid of the great cause of 
the education of the poor children of the multitude — which did not 
receive the sanction of Parliament until more than twenty years after- 
wards. The permission was cheerfully and thankfully granted; and 
by the warm and intelligent efforts of Sir James Clark, and the assist- 
ance and sympathy of the Prince, 20,000 copies were circulated all 
over the country in a cheap form. 

"A copy of this poem was sent anonymously to George Combe, 
the eminent philanthropist, and author of 'The Constitution of Man.' 

15 225 



Appendix 

He at once recognized the writer, and wrote next day, saying, ' I have 
received "The Souls of the Children," a poem which, I think, could 
come from no pen but yours. It breathes your sweet versification and 
beautiful, tender, yet philosophical spirit, and I thank you for it sin- 
cerely. It came under a blank cover ; and if you did not write it, 
I thank God that England has another poet like you.' " 



"the souls of the children 

<< <Who bids for the little children, — 
Body, and soul, and brain ? 
Who bids for the little children, — 

Young, and without a stain? 
Will no one bid,' said England, 

' For their souls so pure and white. 
And fit for all good or evil, 

The world on their page may write .?' 

" ' We bid,' said Pest and Famine, 
' We bid for life and limb ; 
Fever and pain and squalor 

Their bright young eyes shall dim. 
When the children grow too many, 
We'll nurse them as our own, 
And hide them in secret places, 

Where none may hear their moan.' 

*< « I bid,' said Beggary, howling, 

' I bid for them, one and all ! 
I'll teach them a thousand lessons — 

To lie, to skulk, to crawl ! 
They shall sleep in my lair, like maggots. 

They shall rot in the fair sunshine ; 
And if they serve my purpose, 
I hope they'll answer thine.' 

«< < And I'll bid higher and higher,' 
Said Crime, with wolfish grin, 
' For I love to lead the children 

Through the pleasant paths of sin. 
226 



Appendix 



They shall swarm in the streets to pilfer, 
They shall plague the broad highway. 

Till they grow too old for pity. 
And ripe for the law to slay. 

" * Prison and hulk and gallows 

Are many in the land, 
'Twere folly not to use them, 

So proudly as they stand. 
Give me the little children — 

I'll take them as they're born, 
And feed their evil passions 

With misery and scorn. 

" ' Give me the little children. 

Ye good, ye rich, ye wise, 
And let the busy world spin round, 

While ye shut your idle eyes ; 
And your judges shall have work. 

And your lawyers wag the tongue. 
And the gaolers and pohcemen 

Shall be fathers to the young. 

" <I and the Law, for pastime, 

Shall struggle day and night ; 
And the Law shall gain, but I shall win, 

And we '11 still renew the fight : 
And ever and aye we ' 11 wrestle. 

Till Law grow sick and sad. 
And kill, in its desperation. 

The incorrigibly bad. 

•' ' I, and the Law, and Justice, 

Shall thwart each other still; 
And hearts shall break to see it 5 — 

And innocent blood shall spill! 
So leave — oh, leave the children 

To Ignorance and Woe — 
And I'll come in and teach them 
The way that they should go.' 
227 



Appendi 



IX 



" ' Oh, shame ! ' said true Religion, 

' Oh, shame that this should be ! 
I '11 take the little children, 

I '11 take them all to me : 
I '11 raise them up with kindness 

From the mire in which they're trod; 
I'll teach them words of blessing, 
I 'II lead them up to God.' 

"♦You're not the true Religion,' 

Said a Sect, with flashing eyes; 
' Nor thou,' said another scowling, 
'Thou'rt heresy and lies.' 

* You shall not have the children,' 

Said a third, with shout and yell ; 

* You 're Antichrist and bigot — 

You'd train them up for hell.' 

" And England, sorely puzzled 

To see such battle strong. 
Exclaimed, with voice of pity, 

'Oh, friends, you do me wrong! 
Oh, cease your bitter wrangling; 

For, till you all agree, 
I fear the little children 

Will plague both you and me.' 



*<But all refused to hsten; 

Quoth they — 'We bide our time'; 
And the bidders seized the children — 

Beggary, Filth, and Crime ; 
And the prisons teemed with victims. 

And the gallows rocked on high; 
And the thick abomination 

Spread reeking to the sky." 




I give now a group of poems written by Charles Mackay to further 
the cause of the Anti-Corn-Law League. They are taken from his f 
volume entitled "Voices From the Crowd." At the time they were 
written, says Dr. Mackay, " The Corn Laws were unrepealed. . . . 



228 



Appendix 

Many of them were intended to aid — as far as verses could aid — ^the 
efforts of the zealous and able men who were endeavouring to create a 
public opinion in favour of untaxed food, and of free trade and free 
intercourse among the nations. They were written as plainly as pos- 
sible, that they might express the general sentiment of the toiling 
classes in phraseology broad, simple, and intelligible as the occasion." 
The poems are as follow : 



BRITISH FREEDOM 



^We want no flag, no flaunting rag. 

For Liberty to fight ; 
We want no blaze of murderous guns, 

To struggle for the right. 
Our spears and swords are printed words, 

The mind our battle-plain ; 
We've won such victories before. 

And so we shall again. 



«♦ We love no triumphs sprung of force — V, 

They stain her brightest cause : » 

'T is not in blood that Liberty \ 

Inscribes her civil laws. '. 

She writes them on the people's heart 

In language clear and plain j 
True thoughts have moved the world before. 

And so they shall again. 



" We yield to none in earnest love 
Of Freedom's cause sublime; 
We join the cry, ' Fraternity ! ' 

We keep the march of Time. 
And yet we grasp nor pike nor spear, 

Our victories to obtain ; 
We 've won without their aid before. 
And so we shall again. 
229 



Appendix 



"We want no aid of barricade 

To show a front to Wrong; 
We have a citadel in Truth 

More durable and strong. 
Calm words, great thoughts, unflinching faith 

Have never striven in vain ; 
They've won our battles many a time, 

And so they shall again. 



<« Peace, Progriess, Knowledge, Brotherhood — 

The ignorant may sneer, 
The bad deny ; but we rely 

To see their triumph near. 
No widow's groans shall load our cause, 

Nor blood of brethren stain ; 
We Ve won without such aid before. 

And so we shall again." 



"the wants of the people 



"What do we want? Our daily bread j 

Leave to earn it by our skill ; 
Leave to labour freely for it, 

Leave to buy it where we will ; 
For 'tis hard upon the many — 

Hard, unpitied by the few. 
To starve and die for want of work, 

Or live half-starved with work to do. 



« What do we want ? Our daily bread ; 
Fair reward for labour done ; 
Daily bread for our wives and children ; 

AH our wants are merged in one. 
When the fierce fiend Hunger grips us, 

Evil fancies clog our brains. 
Vengeance settles on our hearts. 

And Frenzy gallops through our veins. 
230 



Appendix 



"What do we want? Our daily bread; 

Give us that 5 all else will come — 
Self-respect and self-denial, 

And the happiness of home ; 
Kindly feelings, education, 

Liberty for act and thought ; 
And surety that, whate'er befall, 

Our children shall be fed and taught. 

"What do we want? Our daily bread; 

Give us that for willing toil ; 
Make us sharers in the plenty 

God has shower' d upon the soil ; 
And we'll nurse our better natures 

With bold hearts and judgment strong, 
To do as much as men can do 

To keep the world from going wrong. 

" What do we want ? Our daily bread ; 

And trade untrammelled as the wind ; 
And from our ranks shall spirits start, 

To aid the progress of mankind. 
Sages, poets, mechanicians, 

Mighty thinkers shall arise. 
To take their share of loftier work, 

And teach, exalt, and civilize. 

**What do we want? Our daily bread; — 

Grant it ; — make our efforts free ; 
Let us work and prosper ; 

You shall prosper more than we ; 
And the humblest homes of England 

Shall in proper time give birth 
To better men than we have been, 

To live upon a better earth." 

On one occasion Mr. Mackay took Cowley's question, 

"What shall I do to be forever known. 
And make the age to come mine own?" 



Appendix 



and answered it in these lines, which are as true to-day as they were 
when written : 

"What thou shah do to be forever known? 

Poet or statesman — look with steadfast gaze, 

And see yon giant Shadow 'mid the haze. 
Far off, but coming. Listen to the moan 
That sinks and swells in fitful under-tone. 

And lend it words, and give the shadow form ; — . 
And see the Light, now pale and dimly shown, 

That yet shall beam resplendent after storm. 
Preach thou their coming, if thy soul aspire 

To be the foremost in the ranks of fame ; — 
Prepare the way, with hand that will not tire. 

And tongue unfaltering, and o'er earth proclaim 
The Shadow, the roused multitude 5 — the Cry, 
'Justice for allT — ^the Light, true liberty.'''' 



Here are three poems, entitled "The Three Preachers," "The 
Voice of the Time" and "Now," that were very popular during the 
stirring years of the 'forties of the last century. They contain in 
simple lines much thought that should to-day be pressed home on the 
consciousness of all earnest and conscientious men and women. It 
may be said that the sentiments expressed are mere truisms, but, if so, 
they are now receiving only an intellectual assent. They are not lay- 
ing upon the conscience and upon the will of our age that vital touch 
which causes men to express in word, in life, and in act that which 
has previously won their intellectual fealty. The poems : 

"the three preachers 

"There are three preachers, ever preaching, 
Fill'd with eloquence and power: — • 
One is old with locks of white, 
Skinny as an anchorite ; 

And he preaches every hour 
With a shrill fanatic voice, 
232 



Appendix 



And a bigot's fiery scorn : — 
* Backavard ! ye presumptuous nations; 

Man to misery is born ! 
Born to drudge, and sweat, and suffer — 

Born to labour and to pray ; 
BackivarJ ! ye presumptuous nations — 

Back ! — be humble and obey ! ' 

*'The second is a milder preacher; 

Soft he talks as if he sung ; 
Sleek and slothful is his look, 
And his words, as from a book. 

Issue glibly from his tongue. 
With an air of self-content. 

High he lifts his fair white hands : — 
'Stand ye still! ye restless nations; 

And be happy, all ye lands ! 
Fate is law, and law is perfect; 

If ye meddle, ye will mar; 
Change is rash, and ever was so; 

We are happy as we are.' 

♦< Mightier is the younger preacher. 

Genius flashes from his eyes ; 
And the crowds who hear his voice, 
Give him, while their souls rejoice. 

Throbbing bosoms for replies. 
Awed they listen, yet elated, 

While his stirring accents fall: — 
'Fornvard! ye deluded nations, 

Progress is the rule of all ; 
Man was made for healthful effort ; 

Tyranny has crushed him long; 
He shall march from good to better, 

And do battle with the wrong. 

•* ' Standing still is childish folly. 

Going backward is a crime ; 

None should patiently endure 

Any ill that he can cure ; 

Onivard ! keep the march of Time. 

^33 



Appendix 



Onward ! while a wrong remains 

To be conquered by the right; 
While Oppression lifts a finger 

To affront us by his might; 
While an error clouds the reason 

Of the universal heart, 
Or a slave awaits his freedom, 

Action is the wise man's part. 

** < Lo ! the world is rich in blessings ; 

Earth and Ocean, flame and wind, 
Have unnumbered secrets still. 
To be ransacked when you will. 

For the service of mankind ; 
Science is a child as yet, 

And her power and scope shall grow, 
And her triumphs in the future 

Shall diminish toil and woe ; 
Shall extend the bounds of pleasure 

With an ever-widening ken. 
And of woods and wildernesses 

Make the happy homes of men.' " 



THE VOICE OF THE TIME 



**Day unto day utters speech — 

Be wise, O ye nations ! and hear 
What yesterday telleth to-day. 
What to-day to the morrow will preach. 
A change cometh over our sphere, 
And the old goeth down to decay. 
A new light hath dawned on the darkness of yore. 
And men shall be slaves and oppressors no more. 

**Hark to the throbbing of thought, 

In the breast of the wakening world ; — 
Over land, over sea, it hath come. 
The serf that was yesterday bought, 

234 



Appendix 



To-day his defiance hath hurled, 
No more in his slavery dumb ; 
And to-morrow will break from the fetters that bind, 
And lift a bold arm for the rights of mankind. 

" Hark to the voice of the time ! 

The multitude think for themselves, 

And weigh their condition, each one. 
The drudge has a spirit sublime, 

And whether he hammers or delves, 
He reads when his labour is done ; 
And learns, though he groans under penury's ban, 
That freedom to think is the birthright of man. 

"But yesterday thought was confined; 
To breathe it was peril or death. 

And it sank in the breast where it rose ; — 
Now, free as the midsummer wind. 
It sports its adventurous breath. 

And round the wide universe goes ; 
The mist and the cloud from its pathway are curled, 
And glimpses of glory illumine the world. 

**The voice of opinion has grown; 

'T was yesterday changeful and weak, 

Like the voice of a boy ere his prime; 
To-day it has taken the tone 

Of an orator worthy to speak. 

Who knows the demands of the time; 
And to-morrow 'twill sound in Oppression's cold ear 
Like the trump of the seraph to startle our sphere. 

**Be wise, O ye rulers of earth ! 

And shut not your ears to the voice. 
Nor allow it to warn you in vain ; 
True freedom, of yesterday's birth. 

Will march on its way and rejoice. 
And never be conquered again. 
The day has a tongue — ay, the hours utter speech — 
Wise, wise will ye be, if ye learn what they teach !" 

23s 



Appendix 



" NOW 

**The venerable Past is past; 

'Tis dark, and shines not in the ray; 
'Twas good, no doubt — 'tis gone at last — 

There dawns another day. 
Why should we sit where ivies creep, 
And shroud ourselves in charnels deep ; 
Or the world's Yesterdays deplore, 
'Mid crumbling ruins, mossy, hoar? 
Why should we see with dead men's eyes, 

Looking at Was from morn to night. 
When the beauteous Now, the divine To Be, 

Woo witli their charms our living sight ? 
Why should we hear but echoes dull, 
When the world of sound so beautiful. 

Will give us music of our own ? 
Why in darkness will we grope. 
When the sun, in heaven's resplendent cope, 

Shines as bright as ever it shone ? 

"Abraham saw no brighter stars 

Than those which burn for thee and me. 
When Homer heard the lark's sweet song. 

Or night-bird's lovelier melody, 
They were such sounds as Shakespeare heard, 
Or Chaucer, when he blessed the bird ; 
Such lovely sounds as we can hear ; — 
Great Plato saw the vernal year 
Send forth its tender flowers and shoots, 
And luscious autumn pour its fruits ; 
And we can see the lilies blow. 
The corn-fields wave, the rivers flow : 
For us all bounties of the earth, 
For us its wisdom, love, and mirth, 
If we daily walk in the sight of God,- 
And prize the gifts He has bestowed. 

"We will not dwell amid the graves. 
Nor in dim twilights sit alone, 
236 



Appendix 



To gaze at mouldered architraves, 

Or plinths and columns overthrown ; 
We will not only see the light 

Through painted windows, cobwebbed o'er, 
Nor know the beauty of the night, 

Save by the moonbeam on the floor: 
But in the presence of the sun, 

Or moon, or stars, our hearts shall glowj 
We '11 look at nature face to face. 

And we shall lonje because we knonv. 
The present needs us. Every age 
Bequeaths the next, for heritage, 
No lazy luxury or delight. 
But strenuous labour for the right ; 
For Now, the child and sire of Time, 

Demands the deeds of earnest men, 
To make it better than the Past, 

And stretch the circle of its ken." 



The general unrest of the period was well set forth in "The Fer- 
mentation," some stanzas of which are given below. The poet, as 
will be seen, hears above all other sounds the articulate voice of the 
people crying, "Give us Justice ! we are men !" In this he spoke 
wisely. The specter of the starving multitude demanding justice 
was soon to overshadow all other issues. Here are the stanzas : 



THE FERMENTATION 



"Lonely sitting, deeply musing. 

On a still and starry night. 
Full of fancies, when my glances 
Turned upon those far romances 

Scattered o'er the Infinite; 
On a sudden, broke upon me 

Murmurs, rumours, quick and loud, 
And, half-waking, I discovered 

An innumerable crowd. 
237 



Appendix 



"'Mid the uproar of their voices 

Scarcely could I hear a word 5 
There was rushing, there was crushing, 
And a sound like music gushing, 
And a roar like forests stirred 
By a fierce wind passing o'er them ; — 
And a voice came now and then, 
Louder than them all, exclaiming, 
•Give us Justice! we are men !' 

"And the longer that I listened, 

More distinctly could I hear, 
'Mid the poising of the voicing, 
Sounds of sorrow and rejoicing, 

Utterance of Hope and Fear ; 
And a clash of disputation, 

And of words at random cast — 
Truths and Errors intermingling. 

Of the present and the past. 

•'Some were shouting that Oppression 

Held their consciences in thrall ; 
Some were crying, ' Men are dying, 
Hunger-smit, and none supplying 

Bread, the birthright of us all.' 
Some exclaimed that Wealth was haughty, 

Harsh and callous to the poor ; — 
Others cried, the poor were vicious. 

Idle, thankless, insecure. 



•''Give us freedom for the conscience!' 

'Equal rights !' — 'Unfettered Mind !' 
• Education ! ' — ' Compensation ! ' 
'Justice for a mighty nation !' 

'Progress!' — 'Peace for all mankind! 
•Let us labour!' — 'Give us churches !' 
'Give us Corn where'er it grow!' 
These, and other cries around me 
Surged incessant, loud or low. 
238 



Appendix 



"Old opinion-s jarred with new ones; 
New ones jostled with the old ; 
In such Babel, few were able 
To distinguish truth from fable, 

In the tale their neighbours told. 
But one voice above all others 

Sounded like the voice of ten. 
Clear, sonorous, and persuasive : — 
* Give us Justice ! we are men ! ' 

" And I said, * Oh Sovereign Reason, 

Sire of Peace and Liberty ! 
Aid forever their endeavour ; — 
Boldly let them still assever 

All the rights they claim in thee. 
Aid the mighty Fermentation 

Till it purifies at last. 
And the Future of the people 

Is made brighter than the Past.'" 

In the 'forties of the last century people had not yet ceased to won- 
der at the marvels of the railway and of the telegraph. The new 
world that science and invention have given to our age was then but 
dawning on the wondering eyes of man. And even then some dilet- 
tante writers were crying out against those who thought that utility 
had aught in common with art, — even then some were worried lest the 
railway should stir the poetic impulses of writers. To these fearful 
ones Mr. Mackay addressed the following lines : 



"THE RAILWAYS 

" * No POETRY in Railways'! foolish thought 
Of a dull brain, to no fine music wrought. 
By mammon dazzled, though the people prize 
The gold alone, yet shall we not despise 
The triumphs of our time, or fail to see 
Of pregnant mind the fruitful progeny 
Ushering the daylight of the world's new mom. 
239 



Appendix 



Look up, ye doubters, be no more forlorn ! — 
Smooth your rough brows, ye little wise ; rejoice. 
Ye who despond ; and with exulting voice 
Salute, ye earnest spirits of our time, 
The young Improvement ripening to her prime, 
Who, in the fulness of her genial youth. 
Prepares the way for Liberty and Truth, 
And breaks the barriers that, since earth began, 
Have made mankind the enemy of man. 

"Lay down your rails, ye nations, near and far — 
Yoke your full trains to Steam's triumphal car ; 
Link town to town ; unite in iron bands 
The long-estranged and oft-embattled lands. 
Peace, mild-eyed seraph — Knowledge, light divine — 
Shall send their messengers by every line. 
Men, joined in amity, shall wonder long 
That Hate had power to lead their fathers wrong 5 
Or that false Glory lured their hearts astray, 
And made it virtuous and sublime to slay. 

" Blessings on Science ! When the earth seemed old, 
When Faith grew doting, and the Reason cold, 
' T was she discovered that the world was young. 
And taught a language to its lisping tongue ; 
'T was she disclosed a future to its view, 
And made old knowledge pale before the new. 

" Blessings on Science ! In her dawning hour 
Faith knit her brow, alarmed for ancient power j 
Then looked again upon her face sincere. 
Held out her hand, and hailed her — Sister dear ; 
And Reason, free as eagle on the wind, 
Swooped o'er the fallow meadows of the mind. 
And, clear of vision, saw what seed would grow 
On the hill-slopes, or in the vales below ; 
What in the sunny South, or nipping Nord, 
And from her talons dropped it as she soared. 

" Blessings on Science, and her handmaid Steam ! 
They make Utopia only half a dream." 
240 



Appendix 

I close the selections from Dr. Mackay's reform verse with four 
poems that I regard as among his best. " Eternal Justice" is especi- 
ally noble, and richly deserves to live in our literature. The 
poems are : 



THE WATCHER ON THE TOWER 



" ' What dost thou see, lone watcher on the tower ? 
Is the day breaking ? Comes the wished-for hour * 
Tell us the signs, and stretch abroad thy hand 
If the bright morning dawns upon the land.' 

*'*The stars are clear above me, scarcely one 
Has dimmed its rays in reverence to the sun ; 
But yet I see, on the horizon's verge, 
Some fair, faint streaks, as if the light would surge.' 

'"Look forth again, O watcher on the tower — 
The people wake, and languish for the hour 5 
Long have they dwelt in darkness, and thev pine 
For the full daylight which they know must shine.' 

"*I see not well — the morn is cloudy still. — 
There is a radiance on the distant hill ; 
Even as I watch, tlie glory seems to grow ; 
But the stars blink, and the night breezes blow.' 

<«'And is that all, O watcher on the tower? 
Look forth again ; it must be near the hour. 
Dost thou not see the snowy mountain-copes, 
And the green woods beneath them on the slopes?' 

"'A mist envelopes them; I cannot trace 

Their outline; but the day comes on apace. 
The clouds roll up in gold and amber flakes, 
And all the stars grow dim. The morning breaks.' 
16 241 



Appendix 



*•* Again — again — O watcher on the tower! 
We thirst for daylight, and we bide the hour, 
Patient, but longing. Tell us, shall it be 
A bright, calm, glorious daylight for the free ? ' 

'* • I hope, but cannot tell. I hear a song. 
Vivid as day itself, and clear and strong. 
As of a lark — young prophet of the noon — 
Pouring in sunlight his seraphic tune.' 

«' « What doth he say, O watcher on the tower ? 
Is he a prophet ? Doth the dawning hour 
Inspire his music ? Is his chant sublime. 
Filled with the glories of the Future time?' 

'« • He prophecies ; — his heart is full ; — his lay 
Tells of the brightness of a peaceful day ; 
A day not cloudless, nor devoid of storm, 
But sunny for the most, and clear and warm.' 

«* « We thank thee, watcher on the lonely tower. 
For all thou tellest. Sings he of an hour 
When Error shall decay, and Truth grow strong. 
And Right shall rule supreme and vanquish Wrong.?' 

" • He sings of brotherhood, and joy, and peace, 
Of days when jealousies and hate shall cease } 
When war shall die, and man's progressive mind 
Soar as unfettered as its God designed.' 

*<*Well done! thou watcher on the lonely tower! 
Is the day breaking ? Dawns the happy hour ? 
We pine to see it : — tell us, yet again. 
If the broad daylight breaks upon the plain?' 

«* * It breaks — it comes — the misty shadows fly ;— 
A rosy radiance gleams upon the sky ; 
The mountain-tops reflect it calm and clear } 
The plain is yet in shade, but day is near.' " 
242 



Appendix 



* CLEAR THE WAY 

** Men of thought ! be up and stirring. 

Night and day ; 
Sow the seed — withdraw the curtain — 

Clear the way ! 
Men of action, aid and cheer them, 

As ye may ! 
There 's a fount about to stream. 
There 's a light about to beam, 
There 's a warmth about to glow. 
There 's a flower about to blow ; 
There 's a midnight blackness changing 

Into grey ; 
Men of thought and men of action, 

Clear the nvay ! 

**Once the welcome light has broken, 

Who shall say 
What the unimagined glories 

Of the day ? 
What the evils that shall perish 

In its ray ? 
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen ; 
Aid it, hopes of honest men ; 
Aid it, paper — aid it, type — 
Aid it, for the hour is ripe. 
And our earnest must not slacken 

Into play. 
Men of thought and men of action. 
Clear the nvay ! 

'•Lo ! a cloud's about to vanish 
From the day; 
And the brazen wrong to crumble 

Into clay. 
Lo ! the right's about to conquer. 

Clear the ixiay ! 
With the Right shall many more 
243 



Appendix 

Enter smiling at the door; 
With the giant Wrong shall fall 
Many others, great and small, 
That for ages long have held us 

For their prey. 
Men of thought and men of action, 

Clear the -way! 



"the good time coming 

"There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming; 
We may not live to see the day, 
But earth shall glisten in the ray 

Of the good time coming. 
Cannon-balls may aid the truth. 

But thought ■■ s a weapon stronger ; 
We'll win our battle by its aid; — 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming ; 
The pen shall supersede the sword. 
And Right, not Might, shall be the lord 

In the good time coming. 
Worth, not Birth, shall rule mankind. 

And be acknowledged stronger ; 
The proper impulse has been given ; — 

Wait a little longer. 

<' There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming ; 
Hateful rivalries of creed 
Shall not make their martyrs bleed 

In the good time coming. 
Religion shall be shorn of pride. 

And flourish all the stronger ; 
And Charity shall trim her lamp ; — 

Wait a little longer. 

244- 



Appendix 

"There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming ; 
Little children shall not toil. 

In the good time coming ; 
But shall play in healthful fields 

Till limbs and mind grow stronger j 
And everyone shall read and write ; — 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming ; 
The people shall be temperate, 
And shall love instead of hate, 

In the good time coming. 
They shall use and not abuse. 

And make all virtue stronger. 
The reformation has begun ; — 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, boys, 

A good time coming ; 
Let us aid it all we can. 
Every woman, every man. 

The good time coming. 
Smallest helps, if rightly given. 

Make the impulse stronger; 
'T will be strong enough one day ; — 

Wait a little longer." 



* ETERNAL JUSTICE 

" The man is thought a knave, or fool. 
Or bigot, plotting crime. 
Who, for the advancement of his kind, 

Is wiser than his time. 
For him the hemlock shall distil ; 

For him the axe be bared ; 
For him the gibbet shall be built ; 
For him the stake prepared. 
245 



Appendix 



Him shall the scorn and wrath of men 

Pursue with deadly aim ; 
And malice, envy, spite, and lies 

Shall desecrate his name. 
But Truth shall conquer at the last. 

For round and round we run ; 
And ever the Right comes uppermost. 

And ever is Justice done. 

** Pace through thy cell, old Socrates, 

Cheerily to and fro ; 
Trust to the impulse of thy soul. 

And let the poison flow. 
They may shatter to earth the lamp of clay 

That holds a light divine. 
But they cannot quench the fire of thought 

By any such deadly wine. 
They cannot blot thy spoken words 

From the memory of man 
By all the poison ever was brewed 

Since time its course began. 
To-day abhorred, to-morrow adored. 

For round and round we run. 
And ever the Truth comes uppermost, 

And ever is Justice done. 

'•Plod in thy cave, grey anchorite; 

Be wiser than thy peers ; 
Augment the range of human power. 

And trust to coming years. 
They may call thee wizard, and monk accursed. 

And load thee with dispraise ; 
Thou wert born five hundred years too soon 

For the comfort of thy days ; 
But not too soon for human kind. 

Time hath reward in store ; 
And the demons of our sires become 

The saints that we adore. 
The blind can see, the slave is lord, 

So roimd and round we run ; 
And ever the Wrong is proved to be wrong. 

And ever is Justice done. 
246 



Appendix 

**Keep, Galileo, to thy thought, 

And nerve thy soul to bear ; 
They may gloat o'er the senseless words they wring 

From the pangs of thy despair ; 
They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide 

The sun's meridian glow j 
The heel of a priest may tread thee down, 

And a tyrant work thee woe ; 
But never a truth has been destroyed ; 

They may curse it and call it crime ; 
Pervert and betray, or slander and slay. 

Its teachers for a time ; 
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky. 

As round and round we run ; 
And the Truth shall ever come uppermost. 

And Justice shall be done. 

** And live there now such men as these — 

With thoughts like the great of old ? 
Many have died in their misery, 

And left their thought untold ; 
And many live, and are ranked as mad. 

And are placed in the cold world's ban, 
For sending their bright, far-seeing souls 

Three centuries in the van. 
They toil in penury and grief, 

Unknown, if not maligned ; 
Forlorn, forlorn, hearing the scorn 

Of the meanest of mankind ! 
But yet the world goes round and round, 

And the genial seasons run ; 
And ever the Truth comes uppermost. 

And ever is Justice done." 

We come now to the poems of the youngest of the poet-agitators 
of this period, in my judgment the greatest of them all — Gerald Mas- 
sey. This poet, it must be remembered, was a Chartist ; and he 
belonged to the revolutionary faction. He had suffered terribly from 
biting poverty; he was young; he had imbibed the spirit of revolt 
that was then everywhere rampant. 

247 



Appendix 



In the following poems entitled "The Earth for All," «'The 
Lords of Land and Money," "A Cry of the Unemployed," and 
"Our Fathers are Praying for Pauper-Pay," the rights of the people 
and their just contentions are boldly touched upon. It will be 
observed that the poet insists upon the right of all to the enjoyment of 
earth's bounty. The great contention of the single-taxers is empha- 
sized by Mr. Massey, who held, no less strenuously than do the 
modern reformers, that the Creator made the land for all his children 
instead of for a favored few. 



THE EARTH FOR ALL 

" Thus saith the Lord: You weary me 

With prayers, and waste your own short years; 
Eternal Truth you cannot see. 

Who weep, and shed your sight in tears ! 
In vain you wait and watch the skies. 

No better fortune thus will fall ; 
Up from your knees I bid you rise. 

And claim the Earth for All. 

"They ate up Earth, and promised you 

The Heaven of an empty shell ! 
'Twas theirs to say; 'twas yours to do, 

On pain of everlasting Hell ! 
They rob and leave you helplessly 

For help of Heaven to cry and call ; 
Heaven did not make your misery, — 

The Earth was given for All ! 

" Behold in bonds your Mother Earth ; 

The rich man's prostitute and slave ! 
Your Mother Earth, that gave you birth. 

You only onvn her for a grave ! 
And will you die like Slaves, and see 

Your Mother left a fettered thiall } 
Nay ! live like Men and set her free 
As Heritage for All." 
248 



Appendix 



But the lords of the land are not the only "masters of the bread" : 
the lords of money also, or those who enjoy special privileges in the 
medium of exchange, hold the wealth-creators in their iron grip. 
Massey presents the situation thus : 



THE LORDS OF LAND AND MONEY 

"Lift up your faces from the sod ; 

Frown with each furrowed brow ; 
Gold apes a mightier power than God, 

And wealth is worshipped now ! 
In all these toil-ennobled lands 

You have no heritage ; 
They snatch the fruit of Youthful hands, 

The staff from weary Age. 
O tell them in their Palaces, 

These Lords of Land and Money — 
They shall not kill the Poor like Bees, 

To rob them of Life's honey ! 

" Through long, dark years of blood and tears. 

We 've toiled like branded Slaves, 
Till Wrong's red hand hath made a land 

Of Paupers, Prisons, Graves ! 
But our long-suft'erance endeth now ; 

Within tlie souls of men 
The fruitful buds of promise blow, 

And Freedom lives again ! 
O tell them in their Palaces, 

These Lords of Land and Money — 
They shall not kill the Poor like Bees, 

To rob them of Life's honey ! 

"Too long have Labour's Nobles knelt 
Before factitious * Rank ' ; 
Within our souls the iron is felt — 

In .tune our fetters clank ! 
A glorious voice goes throbbing forth 
From millions stirring noW) 
24.9 



Appendix 



Who yet before these Gods of Earth 
Shall stand with lifted brow, 

And tell them in their Palaces, 

These Lords of Land and Money — 

They shall not kill the Poor like Bees, 
To rob them of Life's honey !" 



To be a tenant at the will of a landlord, or a wealth-creator at 
the whim of a master who (no matter how faithfully you may serve 
him) may see fit to turn you off at a moment's notice if you vote 
against what he deems his interest, or speak your convictions and 
they happen to run counter to his, is hard ; because, disguise it as we 
may, it is slavery. But there are even more tragic phases of the 
question than that : after you have been turned from home or employ- 
ment, come the bitter days known only to the "out-of-works." 
They are thus graphically described by Massey : 



"A CRY OF THE UNEMPLOYED 

**'Tis HARD to be a wanderer through this bright world of ours, 
Beneath a sky of smiling blue, on fragrant paths of flowers ; 
With music in the woods, as there were naught but pleasure 

known. 
Or Angels walked Earth's solitudes, and yet with want to groan ; 
To see no beauty in the stars, nor in Earth's welcome smile, 
To wander cursed with misery ! willing, but cannot toil. 
With burning sickness at my heart, I sink down famished : 
God of the Wretched, hear my prayer: I would that I were 
dead ! 

** Heaven droppeth down with manna still in many a golden 
shower, 
And feeds the leaves with fragrant breath, with silver dew the 

flower. 
Honey and fruit for Bee and Bird, with bloom laughs out the 

tree, 
And food for all God' s happy things ; but none gives food to me. 

250 



Appendix 



Earth, wearing plenty for a crown, smiles on my aching eye, 
The purse-proud, — swathed in luxury,^ — disdainful pass me by ; 
I've willing hands, an eager heart — but may not work for bread! 
God of the Wretched, hear my prayer : I would that I were 
dead ! 



•'Gold, art thou not a blessed thing, a charm above all other. 
To shut up hearts to Nature's cry, when brother pleads with 

brother ? 
Hast thou a music sweeter than the voice of loving-kindness ? 
No! curse thee, thou'rt a mist 'twixt God and men in outer 

blindness. 
' Father, come back ! ' my Children cry ; their voices, once so sweet. 
Now pierce and quiver in my heart ! I cannot, dare not meet 
The looks that make the brain go mad, for dear ones asking 

bread — 
God of the Wretched, hear my prayer : I would that I were 

dead ! 



"Lord ! what right have the poor to wed? Love's for the gilded 

great : 
Are they not formed of nobler clay, who dine oiF golden plate ? 
'T is the worst curse of Poverty to have a feeling heart : 
Why can I not, with iron grasp, choke out the tender part ? 
I cannot slave in yon Bastille! I think 'twere bitterer pain, 
To wear the Pauper's iron within, than drag the Convict's chain. 
I *d work but cannot, starve I may, but will not beg for bread : 
God of the Wretched, hear my prayer : I would that I were 

dead ! " 



There are scenes so tragic that the heart sickens when contem- 
plating them, — scenes which fill the noble mind of the poet with 
nameless horror, and make it cease to be a safe and sober counselor ; 
and, like the prophet of old, the aroused singer turns in wrath upon 
the slow-thinking multitude who witness the old man's fruitless prayer 
for " pauper-pay," the slow and terrible starvation of the old women, 
the virtual serfdom of the young men who create the bulk of the 
nation's wealth, and, more terrible than all, the enforced and revolting 

251 



Appendix 

prostitution of the maidens. It is with this supreme tragedy before 
his eyes that we find Mr. Massey pouring forth words that are well 
calculated to startle alike the well-fed rich and the slow-thinking poor: 



OUR FATHERS ARE PRAYING FOR 
PAUPER-PAY 



*« Smitten stones will talk with fiery tongues. 

And the worm, when trodden, will turn ; 
But, Cowards, ye cringe to the cruellest wrongs. 

And answer with never a spurn. 
Then torture, O Tyrants, the spiritless drove. 

Old England's Helots will bear; 
There 's no hell in their hatred, no God in their love, 

No shame in their deepest despair. 
For our Fathers are praying for Pauper-pay, 

And our Mothers with Death's kiss are white; 
Our Sons are the rich man's Serfs by day, 

And our Daughters his Slaves by night. 



"The Tearless are drunk v/ith our tears; have they driven 

The God of the poor man mad ? 
For we weary of waiting the help of Heaven, 

And the battle goes still with the bad. 
O but death for death, and life for life. 

It were better to take and give, 
With hand to throat, and with knife to knife, 

Than die out as thousands live ! 
Our Fathers are praying for Pauper-pay, 

And our Mothers with Death's kiss are white ; 
Our Sons are the rich man's Serfs by day, 

And our Daughters his Slaves by night. 



•* Fearless and few were the Heroes of old. 
Who played the peerless part ; 
We are fifty-fold, but the gangrene Gold 
Is eating out England's heart. 
25a 



Appendix 



with their faces to danger, like Freemen they fought. 

With their daring, all heart and hand ; 
And the thunder-deed followed the lightning-ihought. 

When they stood for their own good lanu. 
Our Fathers are praying for Pauper-pay, 

And our Mothers with Death's kiss are white ; 
Our Sons are the rich man's Serfs by day, 

And our Daughters his Slaves by night. 

<*When the he:irt of one-half the world doth beat 

Akin to tlie brave and the true. 
And the tramp of Democracy's earth-quaking feet 

Goes thrilling the wide world through, — 
We should not be crouching in darkness and dust. 

And dying like slaves in the night ; 
But big with the might of the inward '■must,'' 

We should battle for Freedom and Right ! 
Our Fathers are praying for Pauper-pay, 

And our Mothers with Death's kiss are white; 
Our Sons are the rich man's Serfs by day. 

And our Daughters his Slaves by night. 

•'What do we lack, that the RufRan Wrong 

Should starve us 'mid heaps of gold ? 
We have brains as broad, we have arms as strong 

As our captors, if only as bold ! 
Will a thousand years more of meek suffering school 

Your lives to a sterner bravery ? 
No ! down and down with their Robber Rule, 

And up from the land of slavery ! 
Our Fathers are praying for Pauper-pay, 

And our Mothers with Death's kiss are white; 
Our Sons are the rich man's Serfs by day. 

And our Daughters his Slaves by night." 

Given monopoly in land, monopoly in ?noney, monopoly in the 
commodities of life, and the phenomenon of the unemployed, what is 
essentially the vassalage of the toiler, and the gradual despoilment and 
degradation of manhood and of womanhood become inevitable. In 
this group of poems we find the cardinal aspects ot present-day 

253 



Appendix 

affairs, no less than the wrongs of the 'forties of the last century, 
vividly presented. 

Massey is not content, however, with merely drawing vivid pictures. 
In the poem "Anathema Maranatha," he passes from the statement 
of the more tragic side of social conditions to an appeal to the man- 
hood of the masses : 

"Love is the Crown of all life, but ye wear it not ; 
Freedom, Humanity's palm, and ye bear it not; 
Beauty spreads banquet for all, but ye share it not ; 
Grimmer the blinding veil glooms, and ye tear it not. 
Weaving your life-flowers in Wealth's robe of glory, 
Ye stint in your starkness with youth smitten hoary!" 

In his poem "Onward and Sunward," Massey thus exhorts the 
people : 

"The mightiest souls of all time hover o'er us, 

W^ho laboured like Gods among men, and have gone 

With great bursts of sun on the dark way before us ; 
They ' re with us, still with us, our battle fight on. 

Looking down victor-browed, from the glory-crowned hill. 

They beckon and beacon us on, onward still ; 

And the true heart's aspirings are onward, still onward; 

It turns to the Future, as earth turneth Sunward." 

Somewhat the same note of exultant brutality as in Kipling's "The 
Galley Slave" mingles with the freedom-call in this splendid — 



"song of the red republican 

*' Fling out the red Banner! its fiery front under. 

Come, gather ye, gather ye. Champions of Right! 
And roll round the world, with the voice of God's thunder, 

The Wrongs we 've to reckon. Oppressions to smite. 
They deem that we strike no more like the old Hero-band, 

Victory's own battle-hearted and brave: 
Once more, brothers mine, it were sweet but to see ye stand, 
Triumph or Tomb welcome. Glory or Grave ! 
254 



Appendix 



"Fling out the red Banner! in mountain and valley 

Let Earth feel the tread of the Free once again ; 
Now soldiers of Liberty make one more rally, 

Old Earth yearns to know that her children are Men. 
We are nerved by a thousand wrongs, burning and bleeding ; 

Bold Thoughts leap to birth, but the bold Deeds must come } 
And wherever Humanity's yearning and pleading. 

One battle for Liberty strike we heart-home. 



"Fling out the red Banner, O Sons of the morning! 

Young spirits awaiting to burst into wings, — 
We stand shadow-crowned, but sublime is the warning, 

All heaven ' s grimly hushed, and the Bird of Storm sings ! 
*All 'j nvell,'' saith the Sentry on Tyranny's tower. 

While Hope by his watch-fire is grey and tear-blind ; 
Ay, all's well! Freedom's Altar burns, hour by hour, 

Live brands for the fire-damp with which ye are mined. 

•'Fling out the red Banner ! the Patriots perish. 

But where their bones whiten the seed striketh root : 
Their blood hath run red the great harvest to cherish : 

Now gather ye. Reapers, and garner the fruit. 
Victory I victory ! Tyrants are quaking 1 

The Titan of Toil from the bloody thrall starts ; 
The Slaves are awaking, the dawn-light is breaking, 

The foot-fall of Freedom beats quick at our hearts!" 



Here are inspiring words : 

**THE AWAKENING 



"How SWEET is the fair face of Nature, when May, 

With her rainbow earth-born and flower-woven, hath spanned 

Hill and dale ; and the music of birds on the spray 
Makes Earth seem a beautiful faery land 1 

And dear is our First-love's young spirit-wed Bride, 
With her meek eyes just sheathing in tender eclipse. 



Appendix 

When the sound of our voice calls her heart's ruddy tide 

Up in beauty to break on her cheek and her lips. 
But Earth hath no sight half so glorious to see, 
As a People up-girding its might to be free. 

*'To see men awake from the slumber of ages. 

Their brows grim from labour, their hands hard and tan, 
Start up living Heroes, long-dreamt-of by Sages ! 

And smite with strong arm the Oppressors of man ; 
To see them come dauntless forth 'mid the world's warring, 

Slaves of the midnight-mine ! Serfs of the sod ! 
Shew how the Eternal within them is stirring. 

And nevermore bend to a crowned clod : 
Dear God ! 't is a sight for Immortals to see, — 
A People up-girding its might to be free. 

*< Battle on bravely, O sons of Humanity ! 

Dash down the Cup from your lips, O ye Toilers ! 
Too long hath the world bled for Tyrants' insanity — 

Too long our weakness been strength to our Spoilers ! 
The heart that through danger and death will be dutiful ; 

Soul that with Cranmer in fire would shake hands, 
And a life like a Palace-home built for the beautiful. 

Freedom of all her beloved demands — 
And Earth has no sight half so glorious to see. 
As a People up-girding its might to be free!" 

The notice of Mr. Massey's contributions to the spiritual ferment 
of his time may well end with these beautiful lines, which should be 
graven on the hearts of all : 



TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 



*' Though hearts brood o'er the Past, our eyes 
With smiling Futures glisten ; 
For, lo ! our Day bursts up the skies ! 
Lean out your souls and listen ! 
256 



Appendix 

The world is rolling Freedom's way, 
And ripening with her sorrow ; 

Take heart ! who bear the Cross To-day- 
Shall wear the Crown To-morrow. 

**0 Youth ! flame-earnest, still aspire. 

With energies immortal ! 
To many a heaven of Desire 

Our yearning opes a portal. 
And though Age wearies by the way, 

And hearts break in the furrow, 
Youth sows the golden grain To-day, — 

The Harvest comes To-morrow. 

" Build up heroic lives, and all 

Be like a sheathen sabre. 
Ready to flash out at God's call, 

O Chivalry of Labour ! 
Triumph and Toil are twins, though thejr 

Be singly born in Sorrow ; 
And 't is the Martyrdom To-day 

Brings Victory To-morrow." 

I close this section with two poems of Charles Kingsley. "Alton 
Locke's Song" shows how profoundly this brave and noble-minded 
Church of England clergyman was moved by the wretchedness 
revealed to him in the stifling dens of London, as well as among the 
agrarian population. "The Day of the Lord" is a prophet-cry; 
like "Alton Locke's Song," it rings with the spirit of Chartism 
rather than that of the League. The two poems may be said to utter 
the spirit of 1 848. 

"ALTON Locke's song 

*< Weep, weep, weep and weep. 
For pauper, dolt, and slave ! 
Hark ! from wasted moor and fen, 
Feverous alley, stifling den, 
Swells the wail of Saxon men — 
Work ! or the grave ! 
17 257 



Appendix 



"Down, down, down and down 

With idler, knave, and tyrant ! 
Why for sluggards cark and moil ? 
He that will not live by toil 
Has no right on English soil ! 
God's word 's our warrant I 

** Up, up, up and up ! 

Face your game and play it ! 
The night is past, behold the sun ! 
The idols fall, the lie is done ! 
The Judge is set, the doom begun ! 

Who shall stay it ? " 



"the day of the lord 

"The Day of the Lord is at hand, at hand; 

Its storms roll up the sky ; 
The nations sleep starving on heaps of gold j 

All dreamers toss and sigh ; 
The night is darkest before the morn ; 
When the pain is sorest the child is born, 

And the Day of the Lord is at hand. 

" Gather you, gather you, angels of God — 
Freedom, and Mercy, and Truth ; 
Come ! for the Earth is grown coward and old. 

Come down, and renew us her youth. 
Wisdom, Self-Sacrifice, Daring, and Love, 
Haste to the battle-field, stoop from above. 
To the Day of the Lord at hand. 

'* Gather you, gather you, hounds of hell — 
Famine, and Plague, and War ; 
Idleness, Bigotry, Cant, and Misrule, 

Gather, and fall in the snare ! 
Hireling and Mammonite, Bigot and Knave, 
Crawl to the battle-field, sneak to your grave. 
In the Day of the Lord at hand. 
258 



Appendix 



" Who would sit down and sigh for a lost age of gold. 

While the Lord of all ages is here ? 
True hearts will leap up at the trumpet of God, 

And those who can suffer, can dare. 
Each old age of gold was an iron age too, 
And the meekest of saints may find stern work to do. 

In the Day of the Lord at hand." 



259 



II. Dr. CHARLES MJCKAT'S POLITICAL 

FABLE OF THE TAILOR-RULED 

LAND 

I HAVE elsewhere referred to the part played by poems, songs, 
stories, brief arguments, Socratic discussions, and political fables 
in the educational campaign that resulted in the repeal of the Corn 
Laws and the establishment of Free Trade in England. As an interest- 
ing illustration of one kind of weapon used by the reformers to reach the 
mind of the slow-thinking thousands, I give the following political 
fable written by Dr. Charles Mackay. In his delightful volume of 
reminiscences the author says : '< Once, in the course of a conversa- 
tion with Mr. Cobden I remarked, that as good an argument could be 
made in justification of a legislative and parliamentary monopoly of 
tailors and shoemakers, as for that of agriculturists. < Quite as good,' 
replied Mr. Cobden ; * you should work the idea out. It might form 
a political fable, and be the means of driving an idea into heads that 
might not otherwise be converted to the true faith. ' " * 

This conversation led the young journalist to prepare a little fable, 
which was so good an example of the tracts and leaflets that proved 
highly effective in the educational work of the League that I reproduce 
it in full. It was first read at the weekly meeting of the League, next 
published in the Morning Chronicle and was afterwards utilized in the 
propaganda work. 

"the tailor-ruled land 

"In a certain powerful and populous country there was a great 
peculiarity in the mode of government. That peculiarity was, that 
no man could sit in either House of Parliament, of which, as in ours, 

* Mackay's "Forty Years' Recollections," vol. I., p. izg. 

260 



Appendix 



there were two, who was not a tailor. To be a tailor doing a great 
stroke of business was to be eligible not only for a seat in the Legis- 
lature, but for all the principal offices of State ; and in fact the law 
was so framed that if any man of talent, not a tailor, was anxious to 
procure admission into Parliament, he was compelled to do his con- 
science wrong and hire a tailor's shop for a day, that he might swear 
at the moment of his election that he did really and truly belong to 
that eminent fraternity. 

*' The consequences of this state of things may be easily anticipated. 
People, seeing that the tailors made the law, looked up to the tailors 
with becoming respect ; and the monarchs of the country, being in the 
power of the tailors from generation to generation, conferred honours, 
dignities, and emoluments upon them. The tailors, having so much 
power and consideration, naturally endeavoured to turn both to their 
own advantage, and made a law enacting that coats and breeches, and 
every species of attire, should not be sold under a certain large price. 
They also enacted other laws for the protection and sole advantage of 
tailors. But these were felt as nothing by them compared with the 
cruelty of making all sorts of garments excessively and unnecessarily 
dear ; great portions of the community, unable to pay this price, and 
prevented by law from sending to the tailors of other countries, who 
had no such powers and privileges, were obliged to wear very coarse 
and insufficient raiment; and many went with.out it altogether, and 
perished from the inclemency of the weather. The tailors, however, 
did not care what sufferings the multitudes experienced for the want of 
covering ; how many old men and old women shivered in the wintry 
blasts ; and how many little children were nipped in the bud of exist- 
ence, who might have lived to old age if clothes had been as cheap and 
as easily to be procured as they ought to have been. The tailors 
accused those who complained of such evils as men of no knowledge 
of the true principles of Government — as men of no rectitude — who 
wished to overturn the monarchy, bring about a revolution, destroy 
religion, and render us dependent upon foreign nations for our 
breeches. They refused loudly to lower the price of their commodi- 
ties, and maintained, with many specious arguments, that had it not 
been for the great price of coats and other garments, the nation would 
not have attained any rank or eminence among the powers of the earth, 
and would have been conquered and overrun by the people of neigh- 
bouring states. These false and ridiculous doctrines were so widely 
spread, and so zealously inculcated by the tailors, and by people con- 
nected with them, that many well-meaning men were convinced that 
the tailors spoke the truth, and paid willingly the extortionate sums 

261 



Appendix 



demanded by them. The cry of the naked multitudes was heard 
occasionally ; but when the weather grew warmer it was hushed, 
and the tailors fancied it was not the warm weather, but their 
arguments, that had stilled the multitude, and consoled themselves 
during the hot and quiet days w^ith the hope that all opposition had 
died away. 

"In these times there arose a man by the name of Eel — a very fair- 
spoken, intelligent man — who, though not born among the tailors, had 
bought himself into their fraternity by his wealth, and acquired great 
ascendancy amongst them by his plausible character. This man Eel 
had great tact, undoubted prudence, and a sort of plain, business-like 
eloquence that had great weight with all the mediocre minds who did 
not like the labour of thinking for themselves, and who were very well 
satisfied that so respectable a person should think for them. Now 
Eel had the misfortune of connecting himself early in life with the 
tailors, in consequence of the facilities afforded by their corporation of 
advancing his ambitious views of power and influence over his fellow- 
men ; and although the older he grew, the more sensible he became 
that the tailors had not acted justly to the community, and had by 
their selfishness inflicted many evils upon the nation, he had not the 
courage to renounce his allegiance to them. Now, the nature of the 
man was acute, or more properly speaking, cunning ; and when the 
tailors chose him for their leader, there arose a great struggle in his 
mind upon the coat and breeches question. The more he thought 
upon the matter, and the more he listened to the voice of reason, 
justice, and common sense, the more convinced he became that the 
tailors were wrong and that the people were right. He was, to do 
him justice, anxious enough that the monopoly of the tailors should 
be brought to an end, and that the people should be cheaply clothed ; 
but at the same time he was anxious not to vex his friends, who had 
brought him into so responsible a position, nor to destroy the great 
party of the tailors out of the country. 

"In this perplexity a scheme was devised, that when the thermome- 
ter was ten degrees below freezing point, the poor people might send 
for clothes to neighbouring states, and not be obliged to buy from the 
high-priced tailors of their own country. This scheme, however, was 
not found to work well ; for when the shivering people sent for their 
clothes, the thermometer not unfrequently rose to twenty or thirty 
degrees above the freezing point before the order could be executed ; 
and when at last the clothes came, they were refused admission into 
the country unless such duty were paid upon them as made them as 
dear as the home manufacture. This scheme, therefore, did not work, 

262 



Appendix 



and great agitation sprung up from one end of the country to the 
other against the tailors. 

"At last a League was formed, the object of which was to put the 
tailors upon the same level with shoemakers and other artisans, and 
with the farmers and owners of land, and generally all those who 
were concerned in the growth of the people's food. The tailors, see- 
ing this, endeavoured to raise an outcry against the League. They 
accused them of selfish and interested views ; and if there happened 
to be a shoemaker, or stocking-weaver, or landlord among them, 
raised a great hubbub, called them mercenaries and lovers of mam- 
mon — reckless and unprincipled men, who cared not for the throne or 
the altar provided breeches were cheap — though what connection 
there was between the price of breeches and the throne, they never 
properly explained. It is not to be supposed that in Parliament, 
where their influence was strong, they could be kept silent ; and Eel, 
who knew very well that they could not open their mouths without 
betraying the weakness of their cause, endeavoured to amuse them 
with other subjects of discussion. They ivould speak, however, and 
from time to time uttered such absurdities, especially one man of the 
name of Goodwood, and another of the name of Stowe, that people, 
miserable as they were for want of clothes, could not avoid laughing 
at the ridiculous things which these two uttered with all the pompous- 
ness of truth and sincerity. Thus the matter remained for two or 
three years — Eel all the while becoming in his heart more and more 
estranged from the tailors ; but hesitating with an excess of caution 
which was characteristic of him to do that which he knew to be right, 
lest the tailors shoiUd be too rudely thrown down from the bad pre- 
eminence they so long occupied." 



263 



III. CHARTIST PETITION PRESENTED TO 
THE COMMONS IN iSjg 

i ELO W is a copy of the great petition presented by the Cliartists 

and introduced by Mr. Attwood, June 14, 1 839. It contained 

i,aoo,ooo signatures. In 1842 a petition containing several 

million signatures was presented. Both, however, shared the same 

fate of being summarily rejected. 

FIRST NATIONAL PETITION OF THE UNITED 
CHARTISTS 

•* To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain a?td Ireland, in 
Parliament assembled, the Petition of the undersigned, their suf- 
feriftg countrymen, 

"Humbly sheweth, — 

"That we, your petitioners, dwell in a land whose merchants are 
noted for their enterprise, whose manufacturers are very skilful, and 
whose workmen are proverbial for their industry. The land itself is 
goodly, the soil rich, and the temperature wholesome. It is abund- 
antly furnished with the materials of commerce and trade. It has 
numerous and convenient harbours. In facility of internal communi- 
cation it exceeds all others. For three and twenty years we have 
enjoyed a profound peace. Yet, with all the elements of national 
prosperity, and with every disposition and capacity to take advantage 
of them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private 
suffering. We are bowed down under a load of taxes, which, not- 
withstanding, fall greatly short of the wants of our rulers. Our 
traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy ; our workmen are 
starving. Capital brings no profit, and labour no remuneration. The 
home of the artificer is desolate, and the warehouse of the pawnbroker 
is full. The workhouse is crowded, and the manufactory is deserted. 
We have looked on every side ; we have searched diligently in order 

264 



Appendix 



to find out the causes of distress so sore and so long continued. We 
can discover none in nature or in Providence. Heaven has dealt 
graciously by the people, nor have the people abused its grace, but the 
foolishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none effect. 
The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in building up 
the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its resources squandered 
for their aggrandisement. The good of a part has been advanced at 
the sacrifice of the good of the nation. The few have governed for 
the interest of the few, while the interests of the many have been sot- 
tishly neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon. It 
was the fond expectation of the friends of the people that a remedy 
for the greater part, if not for the whole of their grievances, would be 
found in the Reform Act of 1832. They regarded that Act as a wise 
means to a worthy end, as the machinery of an improved legislation, 
where the will of the masses would be at length potential. They have 
been bitterly and basely deceived. The fruit which looked so fair to 
the eye, has turned to dust and ashes when gathered. The Reform 
Act has effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to 
another, and left the people as helpless as before. Our slavery has 
been exchanged for an apprenticeship to liberty, which has aggravated 
the painful feelings of our social degradation, by adding to them the 
sickening of still deferred hope. We come before your honourable 
house to tell you, with all humility, that this state of things must not 
be permitted to continue. That it cannot long continue, without very 
seriously endangering the stability of the throne, and the peace of the 
kingdom, and that if, by God's help, and all lawful and constitutional 
appliances, an end can be put to it, we are fully resolved that it shall 
speedily come to an end. We tell your honourable house, that the 
capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due profit; 
that the labour of the workman must no longer be deprived of its due 
reward. That the laws which make food dear, and the laws which 
make money scarce, miist be abolished. That taxation must be made 
to fall on property, not on industry. That the good of the many, as 
it is the only legitimate end, so must it be the sole study of the gov- 
ernment. As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite 
changes — as the means by which alone the interests of the people can 
be effectually vindicated and secured — v/e demand that those interests 
be confided to the keeping of the people. When the State calls for 
defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or 
ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call. Required, as 
we are universally, to support and obey the laws, nature and reason 
entitle us to demand that in the making of the laws the universal voice 

Z65 



Appendix 

shall be implicitly listened to. We perform the duties of freemen ; 
we must have the privileges of freemen. Therefore, we demand uni- 
versal suffrage. The suffrage, to be exempt from the corruption of the 
wealthy and the violence of the powerful, must be secret. The asser- 
tion of our right necessarily involves the power of its uncontrolled 
exercise. We ask for the reality of a good, not for its semblance, 
therefore we demand the ballot. The connection between the repre- 
sentatives and the people, to be beneficial, must be intimate. The 
legislative and constituent powers, for correction and for instruction, 
ought to be brought into frequent contact. Errors which are compara- 
tively light, when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may pro- 
duce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate 
through years of compulsory endurance. To public safety, as well as 
public confidence, frequent elections are essential. Therefore, we 
demand annual parliaments. With power to choose, and freedom in 
choosing, the range of our choice must be unrestricted. We are 
compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives men 
who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties, or have little sym- 
pathy with them ; merchants who have retired from trade and no longer 
feel its harassings ; proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its 
evils and its cure j lawyers by whom the notoriety of the senate is 
courted only as a means of obtaining notice in the courts. The 
labours of a representative who is sedulous in the discharge of his duty 
are numerous and burdensome. It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor 
safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered. We 
demand that in the future election of members of your honourable 
house, the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualifica- 
tion, and that to every representative so chosen shall be assigned out of 
the public taxes, a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which 
he is called upon to devote to the public service. The management of 
this mighty kingdom has hitherto been a subject for contending factions 
to try their selfish experiments upon. We have felt the consequences 
in our sorrowful experience : short glimmerings of uncertain enjoy- 
ment, swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering. If the 
self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will, 
at least, remove their repinings. Universal suffrage will, and it alone 
can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation ; we firmly believe that 
it will also bring prosperity. May it therefore please your honourable 
house, to take this our petition into your most serious consideration, and 
to use your utmost endeavours, by all constitutional means, to have a 
law passed, granting to every male of lawful age, sane mind, and 
unconvicted of crime, the right of voting for members of Parliament, 

266 



Appendix 



and directing all future elections of members of Parliament to be in the 
way of secret ballot, and ordaining that the duration of Parliament, so 
chosen, shall in no case exceed one year, and abolishing all property 
qualifications in the members, and providing for their due remuneration 
while in attendance on their parliamentary duties. 
"And your petitioners shall ever pray." 



THE END 



267 



INDEX 



269 



INDEX 



A 

Albert, H.R.H. Prince, assists in 
circulation of Mackay's poem, 
225. 

*' Alton Locke," Kingsley's novel, 
mentioned, 137. 

* * Alton Locke' s Song, " by Kings- 
ley, 257-258. 

America, 89 ; South, 141. 

"Anathema Maranatha,"by Mas- 
sey, lines from, 254. 

Anglo-Saxon dependencies under 
modern English rule moving 
toward republican ideal, 20. 

Anglo-Saxon people slow to adopt 
innovations, 205. 

Annandale, Carlyle attends acad- 
emy at, 116. 

Anne, Queen, 148. 

Anti-Corn-Law agitation, at first 
an ethical movement, later a 
class conflict, 80. 

Anti-Corn-Law campaign, 100. 

" Anti-Corn-Law Circular," organ 
of the League, started, 87. 

Anti-Corn-Law crusade, victorious 
outcome of, an inspiration and 
an object-lesson, 1 1 5 success of, 
averted revolution of force, 78 ; 
mentioned, 108 ; demonstrates 
power of an aroused nation to 
effect apeaceable revolution, 196. 



ASTRONOMY 

Anti-Corn-Law fight, the, 92. 

Anti-Corn-Law leaders, Maurice 
more radical than, 135. 

Anti-Corn-Law League, see 
League. 

Anti-Corn-Law measure, passage 
of. Peel's greatest victory, 193. 

Anti-Corn-Law movement, a valu- 
able example for the present, 9 ; 
similarity of the story of, to that 
of the economic struggle of our 
day, I o ; importance of, to cause 
of liberalism, 78 ; storyof incep- 
tion of, 83-84; mentioned, 193. 

Anti-Corn-Law struggle, Cobden 
and Bright chief leaders of, 87. 

Anti-Corn-Law victory, not 
wholly due to the League, 209— 
210. 

Aristocracy, forced to share gov- 
ernment with middle class, 55. 

Army, sympathizes with popular 
demands, 54. 

Arundel, Mayor of, refuses town- 
hall to speakers of the League, 

155- 

Ashley, Lord, investigations into 
mining abuses secured by, 38 ; 
instrumental in disclosing abuses 
of child labor in factories, 40. 

Associations, Workingmen's, de- 
scription of, 57. 

Astronomy, mentioned in connec- 



271 



Index 



ASTRONOMY 

tion with changing thought of 
the age, 26. 

Attwood, Mr., introduces monster 
petition of Chartists into Com- 
mons, 65, 264. ; mentioned, 66. 

"Awakening, The," by Massey, 
255-256. 

B 

Bagehot, Walter, tribute of, to 
Cobden, 90—91. 

Barrett, Elizabeth, characterization 
of, 122—123 j mentioned, 123, 
150 ; "The Cry of the Chil- 
dren," by, 218-222. 

Bastile, fall of, before the starving 
people act in concert, 24. 

"Battle Call, The," by Massey, 
I 32—133. 

"Battle Song," by Elliott, 215. 

Belgium, postal savings banks of, 
8. 

Birmingham, scene of bloody riot, 
65 ; scene of renewed riots, 
66. 

Bolivar, Simon, with San Martin 
becomesemancipator of Andean 
States, 6; mentioned, 141. 

Boroughs, rotten, reduction in 
number of, by Reform Bill, 54. 

" Bridge of Sighs, The," by Hood, 
mentioned, 123, 124. 

Bright, John, reference to leader- 
ship of, 1 1 ; mentioned, 86, 94, 
955 96, 97> 995 ioo» 108, 127, 
150, 183, 200, 204; an active 
worker of the League, 8 7 ; Cob- 
den's influence over, 92 ; char- 
acterization of, 92-99 ; on mis- 
sion of our republic, 95-96 ; on 
what constitutes a nation, 97 ; 



CAMBRIDGE 

as an orator, 98 ; consecrates life 
to work of the League, 162; 
how he became interested in 
Anti-Corn-Law conflict, 162— 
163; on the seven-years' agita- 
tion against the Corn Laws, 
164; regarded as a dangerous 
incendiary, 177. 

Bright, J. Franck, D.D.,on pub- 
lic revolt, 33; on condition of 
women and children in mines, 
38—39 ; on complacent attitude 
of Liberal ministry toward rev- 
olutionary bodies, 49—50; on 
attitude of political unions in 
regard to Reform Bill, 5 1 ; on 
indignation of English people 
at defeat of Reform Bill, 53—54; 
on tactics of Reform Bill ad- 
vocates, 55—56; reference to 
" History of England," by, 6 5. 

"British Freedom," by Mackay, 
229—230. 

British Isles, 67. 

Brougham, Lord, epigram on in- 
crease of education, by, 26 ; 
commits Liberal party to reform 
policy, 48. 

Brussels, 126. 

Burke, Edmund, secures important 
modifications in Corn Laws, 72 ; 
reaction against liberal policy of, 
73- 



Calvary, 60, 61. 

Calvinists, parents of Carlyle 
strong, 116. 

Cambridge, mentioned, 136 ; san- 
guinary riot at League meeting 
by students of, 156. 



272 



Index 



CAMBRIDGE 

Cambridge, Duke of, solicitude of, 
for maintenance of Corn Tax, 
169. 

Campbell, Thomas, mentioned, 
1 64 ; lines from "Toiy Logic," 
by, 166. 

Canada, perplexities of Melbourne 
cabinet increased by revolution 
in, 22 ; rebellion in, put down 
by Lord Durham, 35 ; special 
legislation relating to importa- 
tion of wheat from, 74. 

Carbonari, the, Mazzini affiliates 
himself with, 142. 

Carlyle, Thomas, contributes 
"Chartism" and "Past and 
Present" to literature of dis- 
content, 105; on the "Corn- 
Law Rhymer," 112-1135 on 
Elliott, 1 13— 1 15 ; characteriza- 
tion of, 1 1 5—1 1 9 ; birth and boy- 
hood of, 1 1 6 ; on his early men- 
tal struggles, 1175 on the true 
mission of life, 1 1 8— 1 1 9 5 refuses 
to enter ministry, 119 ; his de- 
fence of Mazzini, 145 5 men- 
tioned, 214. 

Catholicism, acceptance of, by 
John Henry Newman, 285 men- 
tioned in connection with " No 
Popery!" cry, 30. 

Catholics, indiscreet utterances of, 
increase popular animosity, 31. 

Catholics, Irish Roman, charac- 
terized by Times as a "band of 
visionary traitors," 30. 

Charles II., Corn legislation in 
reign of, 70—71. 

Charter, People's, largely framed 
by members of Parliament, 58 ; 
demands of, 58; embodied as- 
18 



CHRONICLE 

pirations of artisan class, 5 8-5 9. 

Chartism, alarm occasioned in 
England by rise and spread of, 
43, mentioned, 44, 79, 105, 
127,129,206,257; leaders of, 
tme prophets, 59 ; injured by its 
friends, 62; one leading cause 
of failure of, 63 ; waged hope- 
less battle from the hour when 
it resorted to force, 66 ; Massey 
voiced spirit of, 126; lessons 
and warnings of, 204—208 ; fatal 
mistake of, 205—206 ; adoption 
of its principles postponed, 208. 

Chartist agitation, aided by reform 
poetry, 213. 

Chartist leaders, 79. 

Chartist meeting, broken up by 
officials, 65. 

Chartist movement, mentioned, 
61; reference to Gammage's 
history of, 206. 

Chartist Petition, presented to 
Commons in 1839, 264; copy 
of, 264—267. 

Chartists, mentioned, 41, 58, 79, 
80, 138, 174, 197; attitude of 
government toward, 64; arrest 
of leading, 66 ; opposition of, 
to Anti-Corn-Law League, 8 5 ; 
present petition to Commons 
signed by 1,200,000 names, 264. 

"Cheap Clothes and Nasty," 
Kingsley's protest, mentioned, 
136. 

Chelsea, 119. 

Child labor in factories, 40. 

Children, condition of, in mines, 
38-40. 

Chronicle, London Daily, men- 
tioned, 126, 127; opens col- 



273 



Indt 



'ex 



CHRONICLE 

umns to League, 164; dis- 
tinguished writers contribute to, 
164—165 ; publishes Mackay's 
fable of "The Tailor-Ruled 
Land," 260. 

Church, Established, convulsed by 
Oxford movement, 27 ; opposes 
reforms, 103. 

Church, Latin, John Henry New- 
man under fascination of, 27. 

Church of England, convulsed by 
Oxford movement, 28; men- 
tioned, 133, 134, 

Church of Rome, accession of 
English clergymen to, 29. 

Civilization, progress of, depend- 
ent upon youth of an age, 150. 

Civil War, timid conventionalism 
manifests itself after our, 6. 

Clark, Sir James, 225. 

Classicism, 141. 

"Clear the Way!" by Mackay, 

243-244- 

Cobbett, attempt to convict, re- 
garded as assault on freedom 
of the press, 32, 

Cobden, Richard, reference to lead- 
ership of, 115 mentioned, 86, 
89, 90, 92, 99, 100, loi, 108, 
127, 150, 164, 176, 183, 
200, 204; an active worker in 
League, 87; characterization of, 
8 8—92; as an orator, 9 1 j induces 
Bright to take up Anti-Corn- 
Law cause, 935 elected to House 
of Commons, 1 6 1 5 induces 
Bright to join in active League 
propaganda work, 162 ; visit of, 
to Bright at time of latter" s be- 
reavement, 162—163; fails to 
appreciate importance of In- 



CONSERVATIVES 

come Tax, 168 ; failing health 
and financial embarrassment of, 
1775 greatest speech of, in 
House of Commons, 178 ; pre- 
dicts abolition of Corn Laws, 
179; encourages Mackay to 
write his fable, "The Tailor- 
Ruled Land," 260. 

Combe, George, tribute of, to 
Mackay's poem, "The Souls 
of the Children," 225-226. 

Commons, House of, Irish-Catho- 
lic members of, 30; rotten bor- 
oughs represented in, 48 ; men- 
tioned, 49, 57, 66, 148, 161, 
185, 196, 197; Lord Grey's 
ministry discredited by, 5 1 ; 
passes vote of confidence in 
Grey ministry, 52; passes Re- 
form Bill, 5 2 ; passes Reform 
Bill second time, 5 3 ; flooded 
with petitions demanding Re- 
form Bill, 53—54; middle class 
receives substantial representa- 
tion in, 55 ; deluged with peti- 
tions favoring postal reforms, 
158 ; though opposed to repeal, 
supports Peel, 190; votes for 
repeal, 192. 

Conservatism, upholds Corn Laws, 

lOI. 

Conservatives, alarmist cry raised 
by, 29 ; mentioned in connec- 
tion with "No Popery!" cry, 
30; alarmed by revolt in favor 
of Reform Bill, 33; reactionary 
tactics of, combated, 48 ; per- 
suade King to adopt coercive 
policy, 53 ; alarmed at attitude 
of militia, 54 ; mentioned, 188, 
197. 



274 



Index 



CONSTITUTION 

Constitution, English, 50. 

Cooper, Thomas, on pitiable con- 
dition of the poor, 40. 

Cooperative associations, advo- 
cated by Maurice, 135. 

Corn-Law agitation, similarity be- 
tween present conditions and 
those obtaining in England at 
time of, 10; aided by reform 
poetry, 213. 

Corn-Law agitators, object of sati- 
rical verses by Moore, 31. 

Corn-Law reformers, educational 
methods of, recommended, 11. 

** Corn-Law Rhymes," quotations 
from Carlyle's essay on, 112-^ 
113. 

Corn Laws, mentioned, 38, 72, 
79» 83, 85, 93, 99, 128, 129, 
15^) 1535 i54> 160, 168, 169, 
171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 
180, 183, 185, 188, 201, 214, 
216, 228, 260; Chartist agita- 
tatlon hastens repeal of, 43 ; 
history of, 68-77 ; provisions 
of early measures, 68-69 ; legis- 
lative enactments in regard to, 
73 ; become a popular issue, 

75 ; stood for special privilege, 
class legislation and monopoly, 

76 5 restrictive and monopoly- 
creating statutes, 81;" unctious 
rectitude" of defenders of, 82 ; 
bulwarked by great wealth, the 
press, and conservatism, loi ; 
Moore writes verses favoring, 
•165 ; motion to repeal, over- 
whelmingly defeated, 179; re- 
peal of, demanded by Lord Rus- 
sell, 184; repeal necessary to 
prevent forcible revolution, 191. 



DISRAELI 

Corn monopoly, 174. 

Corn Tax, mentioned, 169; pro- 
posed abolition of, by Sir Robert 
Peel, 189. 

" Corsican, The," Napoleon refer- 
red to as, 45. 

Cowley's question, answered by 
Mackay, 231—232. 

Cowper, William, lines from poem 
by, 90. 

Craigenputtoch, home of Carlyle 
at, 119. 

Crimean struggle, denounced by 
Bright, 95. 

"Cry of the Children, The," by 
Elizabeth Barrett, mentioned, 
122; quoted, 218—222. 

"Cry of the People, The," by 
Mackay, lines from, 41—42. 

"Cry of the Unemployed, A," 
by Massey, 250—251. 

D 

Darwin, Charles, engaged on his 
immortal works, 26. 

Dawson, W. J., on poetry of Eliza- 
beth Barrett and Thomas Hood, 
123. 

"Day of the Lord, The," by 
Kingsley, 258-259. 

Declaration of Independence, the 
note of a new departure in gov- 
ernment, 5. 

Democracy, progressive spirit of, 
dominated British political life 
in early years of Victoria's reign, 

19- 
Dickens, Charles, characterization 

of, 1 20- 1 21 J mentioned, 150, 

164. 
Disraeli, Benjamin, bitter philippic 



'75 



Index 



DISRAELI 
of, against Peel, 188-189 ; be- 
comes leader of the Tories in 
Commons, 189. 
Durham, Lord, characterization 
of, 34—35 ; sent to Canada to 
quell rebellion, 35. 

E 

"Earth for All, The," by Massey, 
248. 

Ecclefechan, birthplace of Carlyle, 
116. 

Edinburgh, Carlyle enters Univer- 
sity of, 116; mentioned, 119, 
184. 

Egypt, 89. 

Electricity, a new utilitarian power 
in the material world, 26. 

Elliott, Ebenezer, mentioned, 61, 
108,109,125,126; lines from 
"Ode to Victoria" by, 80; 
characterization of, 107-115; 
school days of, 110; starts in 
business for second time, 111; 
first bro\ight to public notice by 
Lytton and Carlyle, 112; in- 
terest of Southey, Lytton and 
Carlyle in poems of, 213-214; 
lines from "The Village Patri- 
arch," by, 214; martial spirit 
of poems by, 214; "Battle 
Song," by, 215; appreciates 
the ennobling power of beauty, 
216; "The Home of Taste," 
by, 216-217; "The Press," 
by, 217—218. 

Encyclopedia, Edinburgh, Carlyle 
secures work on, 119. 

England, income-and-inheritance 
tax of, 7—8 ; social conditions 
in, during Anti-Corn-Law agi- 



ENGLAND 
tation similar to those present 
with us to-day, 1 o ; monarchical 
in principle but republican in 
spirit during Victoria's reign, 
20 ; infected by spirit of revolt, 
25; influence of French and Ger- 
man philosophy upon thought 
of, 27; controversy among 
scholars in, 28 ; threatened, ac- 
cording to Opposition, by imma- 
turity of Queen and friendliness 
of ministry to Irish Catholics, 
29 ; reference to religious con- 
troversy in, 3 1 ; disappointment 
in, over non-realization of un- 
warranted expectations from the 
Reform Bill, 3 2 ; gigantic dem- 
onstrations of revolt in, in 1831, 
alarms conservatives, 33 ; men- 
tioned, 35, 41, 49, 59, 89, 91, 
93, 95, 98, 101, 102, 108, 124, 

i29j 135, 136, i39» 145, i49> 
150, 155, 161, 163, 170, 171, 
174, 182, 189, 191, 199, 204, 
209, 214, 217, 260; shameful 
conditions in collieries of, 38 ; 
alarm over Chartist movement 
in, 43 ; effect of democracy on 
Continent and of French Revo- 
lution upon, 45 ; Reform Bill 
epoch-marking in history of, 
55 ; progress of, along line of 
democratic ideal illustrated, 65 ; 
artisan class of, educated by 
Chartism, 66 ; strong reaction 
favoring restrictive policy in, 
following French Revolution, 
72 ; infected with spirit of un- 
rest, 75 ; Anti-Corn-Law and 
free trade mass-meetings held 
throughout, 86 ; conscience of. 



276 



Index 



ENGLAND 

awakened by Cobden and 
Bright, 99 ; time of moral 
awakening in, 1045 authorities 
of, open Mazzini's mail, 1475 
assumes world leadership in ef- 
ficient postal sendee, 159; enor- 
mous harvests aihiy general dis- 
content in, 176; educated on 
Corn Laws, 179; great League 
meetings held throughout, i 83 j 
great political excitement 
throughout, 186; aflame witli 
enthusiasm over repeal of Corn 
Laws, 192; enters upon pros- 
perous career with triumph of 
free trade, 193; repeal accom- 
plished through rousing moral 
sentiment of, 197—198. 

England, industrial, educational 
campaign to arouse, 58; edu- 
cated by Chartist movement, 6 1 . 

English agitators, excellent models 
for present-day reformers, 1 1. 

Englishmen, under leadership of 
Cobden and Bright, not afraid 
to take initiative, 11. 

"Eternal Justice," by Mackay, 

245-247- 
Europe, royalty and aristocracy 
of, alarmed and masses inspired 
by founding of our republic, 5 ; 
influence of United States on 
popular imagination of, 6 ; in- 
tellectual revolution in, preced- 
ing Victoria's reign, 23 ; influ- 
ence of French Revolution on 
thrones of, 24 ; western conti- 
nental, moving toward revolu- 
tionary outbreak, 25 ; literature 
of unrest permeates, 75 ; men- 
tioned, i 28, 140, 141, 172 ; rev- 



" GALLEY slave" 

olutionary temper throughout, 

191. 
European countries, successful 

operation of postal savings banks 

in, 8. 
Evolution, influence of, on religious 

thought, 26. 



Farrar, Archdeacon W. F., tribute 
of, to Bright, 9 6 ; characteriza- 
tion of Bright' s eloquence, by, 
9S-99. 

"Fermentation, The," by Mac- 
kay, 237-239. 

France, postal savings banks of, 
8 ; of Louis XV L referred to, 
20 ; overthrow of old regime 
by starving miserables of, 245 
influence of French Revolution 
on European toilers, 25 ; men- 
tioned, 72, 89, 102, 141 ; Maz- 
zini retires to, 142; banishes 
Mazzini, 143. 

Free Trade, associations formed 
for promoting, 83 ; mentioned, 
84, 187, 260; gigantic propa- 
ganda of, 85; advocated by 
Peel, 189. 

Free Trade campaign, 100. 

Free Trade struggle, Cobden and 
Bright chief leaders of, 87; Cob- 
den's views of, 89. 

French Revolution, j^^ Revolution. 

"French Revolution," Carlyle's, 
mentioned, 119, 145. 

Frost, John, 62. 



" Galley Slave, The," by Kipling, 
mentioned, 254. 



277 



Index 



GAMMAGE 

Gammage, R. G., on effort of 
middle classes to secure support 
from the masses for Reform Bill, 
45—46 ; on result of divisions 
among Chartists, 206-208 ; ref- 
erence to ' ' History of the Chart- 
ist Movement," by, 206. 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 90. 

Genoa, 140, 142. 

Geology, mentioned in connection 
with changing thought of the 
age, 26. 

George III., 209. 

George IV., social conditions in 
England at death of, 46 ; men- 
tioned, 56. 

Germany, 129. 

Gethsemane, 61. 

Gladstone, William Ewart, tribute 
of, to Bright, 94 ; sympathy of, 
with South during our Rebel- 
lion, 95; member of Peel's 
ministry, 189. 

Glasgow, 185. 

"Good Time Coming, The," by 
Mackay, 244-245. 

Government, new class introduced 
into, by Reform Bill, 55. 

Gracchi, the, 140. 

Graham, Sir James, maligns Maz- 
zini in defence of his own of- 
ence, 148. 

Grattan, Henry, insinuates that 
Tories would assassinate Qi^ieen 
if in their power, 3 1 . 

Great Britain, postal savings banks 
of, 8 ; progressive democracy 
changed character of govern- 
ment in, 19 ; peaceable settle- 
ment of threatened revolution 
in, compared with Reign of 



HORNE 

Terror, 21 ; takes leading part 
in scientific advance, 26 ; men- 
tioned, 38, 164; tremendous 
impression made throughout, by 
Lord Russell's advocacy of re- 
peal, 1855 moves toward demo- 
cratic ideal, 193; lessons of the 
'forties in, instructive for the 
present, 210. 

Greece, 89. 

Grey, Lord, mentioned, 34; leader 
of progressive wing of Whig 
party, 47 5 called upon to form 
new cabinet, 48 ; supported by 
radical element, 50 ; embarrass- 
ing position of, 5 1 ; resignation 
of, accepted, 53. 

H 

Hampstead Heath, 54. 

Hayti, throws off Bourbon yoke 
underToussaintL'Ouverture, 6. 

Henry VI., corn legislation in reign 
of, 69—70. 

Herbert, Sidney, 178. 

Hetherington, Henry, national or- 
ganizer for Chartist associations, 
58. 

Hill, Rowland, governmental op- 
position to postal reforms of, 
158; characterization of postal 
reform measures of, 1 5 9 ; victory 
of postal reform measures of, 1 60. 

" Home of Taste, The, "by Elliott, 
216—217. 

Hood, Thomas, characterization 
of, 123— 125; mentioned, 124, 
218; " Song of the Shirt," by, 
223—225. 

Home, R. H., revelations of, re- 
garding child labor, inspire Eliz- 



278 



Index 



HORNE 

abeth Barrett's " The Cry of the 
Children," 122. 

Humanitarianism, reflected in lit- 
erature of period, 105. 

Huntingdon, meetings of League 
broken up by Opposition at, 156. 

Hugo, Victor, 141. 



Ideals, of new order, accepted by 
Old World thinkers, 24. 

Income Tax, enacted under Peel's 
ministry, 168; passage of, 
strengthens Peel with people, 

175- 

India, threatened revolution in, 
adds to difficulties confronting 
Melbourne cabinet, 22. 

Ireland, the chief theater for the 
religio-political controversy, 3 1 ; 
passage of coercion bill for, 56 ; 
potato famine in, 1825 lawless 
condition in, 193. 

Italy, mentioned, 129, 142; be- 
comes hotbed of revolutionary 
agitation, 143. 



Jamaica, threatened revolt in, adds 
to difficulties of Melbourne cab- 
inet, 22. 

Jefferson, Thomas, faith of, in the 
people, 6. 

Jones, Ernest, 62. 

K 

King, refuses to accept resignation 
of Grey ministry, 5 1 ; alarmed 
at revolutionary indications, 52; 
won over by Tories, 5 3 ; sum- 
mons Duke of Wellington to 



LEAGUE 
form cabinet, 53 ; alarmed at 
defection of militia, 54 ; recedes 
from conservative position, 54. 

" King Arthur," by Bulwer Lyt- 
ton, lines from, 106—107. 

Kingsley, Charles, characterizes 
himself as a Chartist, 61 ; men- 
tioned, 133, i 505 seconds Mau- 
rice in socialistic work, 135; 
characterization of, 136—139; 
on results of unjust social condi- 
tions, 137; prominent in move- 
ment for Christian Socialism, 
138; reformative character of 
writings of, 139; "Alton 
Locke's Song," by, 257-258 ; 
"The Day of the Lord," by, 
258—259. 

Kipling, Rudyard, 254. 



"Lalla Rookh," by Moore, men- 
tioned, 165, 167. 

League, Anti-Corn-Law, men- 
tioned, 67, 77, 78, 127, 128, 
129, 161, 174, 178, 183, 187, 
199, 200, 228, 257, 260; lead- 
ers of, rally people against mo- 
nopoly, 76 ; opposition to, from 
Tories, Whigs and Chartists, 
79; the ally of freedom, 81; 
high character of leaders of, 8 3 ; 
300 delegates of, meet in Lon- 
don, 845 press of kingdom closed 
to, 85; starts organ, "Anti- 
Co rn-Law Circular," later " Th e 
League," 87 ; frequent disap- 
pointments of, 100; Mackay 
the poet of, 126; false hopes 
entertained by leaders of, 151 ; 
injured by Wood' s address, 152; 



279 



Index 



LEAGUE 

indignation and dismay of, at 
Wood's speech, 153 ; renewal 
of campaign by, 1 54 ; meetings 
of, interfered with, 155; great 
dailies open their columns to, 
164; encouraged by reform of 
tariff, 1 68; interrogates Duke 
of Richmond, 172; gloomy out- 
look for, at opening of 1845, 
175; decline of popular interest 
in, 1 76 ; literature of, no longer 
interests people, 177; roused to 
activity by news of potato rot, 
182; importance of work of, 
195 ; triumph of, over landed 
interests, nobility and church, 
1975 methods of, for arousing 
conscience of England, 198— 
203; in sympathy with Liberals 
rather than Tories, 20 1 ; wisdom 
of leaders of, in refusing to up- 
hold lawlessness, 202 ; persecu- 
tions and unjust treatment of 
leaders of, react favorably, 203 ; 
addressed reason and conscience 
of England, 204; a valuable 
popular educator, 208. 

Liberalism, accession of Francis 
Newman to ranks of, 28. 

Liberalism, French, influence of, on 
English thought, 27. 

Liberalism, progressive, 67. 

Liberal journals, speak out boldly 
in favor of the League, 183. 

Liberal ministry, exasperates labor- 
ing classes by refusing to work 
for extension of franchise and 
other progressive measures, 33 ; 
lenient toward revolutionary 
bodies, 49 5 heartily hated by 
artisans, 56; timidity of, under 



LOUIS XVI, 
Lord Melbourne, 151—152; 
mentioned, 158, 160, 176; un- 
popular with poor, 161. 

Liberal papers, unfriendly attitude 
of, toward Anti-Corn-Law 
League, 85. 

Liberal party, opposes Bourbon 
programme of Conservatives, 
48. 

Liberals, charge Tories with trea- 
son, 31 ; refuse to advance, 34; 
incense poor by enactment of 
Poor Law, 36 ; mentioned, 37, 
79, 176, 185, 188, 201 ; over- 
whelming victory of, 51—52; 
become reactionary, 56. 

Liberals, radical, encourage Work- 
ingmen's Association, 57. 

Liverpool, 64. 

London, mentioned, 53, 54, 84, 
88, 119, 121, 126, 139, 145, 
149, 164, 184, 257; bazaars 
held in, for Free Trade propa- 
ganda purposes, 85 ; sweat- 
shops of, referred to, i 36 ; Maz- 
zini arrives at, in 1837, 144; 
Mazzini's influence in, 147. 

"Lords of Land and Money, 
The," by Massey, 249-250. 

Lords, House of, opposed to Re- 
form Bill, 48 ; reject Reform 
Bill second time, 5 3 ; realize 
futility of continued opposition, 
54; mentioned, 169, 185, 193, 
197 ; receives repeal bill, 192 ; 
votes for repeal of Corn Laws, 
192; though composed of ben- 
eficiaries of Corn Laws, is forced 
to accept repeal, 196. 

Louis XVI., reign of, compared 
with that of Victoria, 20-21. 



Index 



LOUTH 

Louth, speakers of League fined 
at, 156. 

L'Ouverture, Toussaint, becomes 
head of republican movement 
in Hayti, 6. 

Lovett, William, leader of Work- 
ingmen' s Association, 5 7 ; men- 
tioned, 58, 61. 

Lowell, James Russell, lines from 
"The Present Crisis,'" by, 60; 
162. 

Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, refer- 
ence to "My Novel,'' by, 75 ; 
radical lines by, 105 ; lines from 
" King Arthur," by, 106—107 5 
mentioned, 112, 214. 

M 

Machinery, introduction of, alarms 
workers, 37. 

Mackay, Charles, on first decade 
of Victorian age, 21—22; lines 
from "The Cry of the People," 
41—42; characterization of, 
126-128; edits Anti- Corn-Law 
and Free Trade department of 
the Chronicle, 127, 164; men- 
tioned, 150, 164, 228, 239, 
241 ; on tactics of Opposition 
to deceive public, 169; on Nor- 
folk's curry -powder prescrip- 
tion, 173—174; on the Times'" 
foreshadowing Peel's conver- 
sion, 185 ; reference to general 
circulation of the poem, "The 
Souls of the Children," by, 225 ; 
"British Freedom," by, 229— 
230; "The Wants of the 
People," by, 230—231; Cow- 
ley's question answered by, 232; 
"The Three Preachers," by, 



MASSEY 
232-234; "The Voice of the 
Time," by, 234-235 ; "Now," 
by, 2 3 6-2 37;" The Fermenta- 
tion," by, 237—239; "The 
Railways," by, 239 — 240; 
' ' The Watcher on the Tower,' ' 
by, 241-242; "Clear the 
Way!" by, 243-244; "The 
Good Time Coming," by, 244— 
245; "Eternal Justice," by, 
245-247; "The Tailor-Ruled 
Land," by, 260—263. 

Magdalen College, Kingsley grad- 
uates from, 136. 

Manchester, inauguration of Anti- 
Corn-Law movement at, 83 ; 
Chamber of Commerce declares 
for Free Trade, 84 ; great public 
dinner held by Anti-Corn-Law 
leaders at, 84; bazaars for Free 
Trade propaganda purposes held 
at, 85; mentioned, 88, 15a; 
indignant over Wood's address, 
153; League aided through 
manufacturers of, 200. 

Manchester school, 188. 

Manners, Lord John, amusing 
proposition of, to check popular 
discontent, 170— 171. 

Marie Antoinette, 20. 

Marseilles, revolutionary headquar- 
ters of "Young Italy," 143. 

Marx, Karl, 129. 

Massey, Gerald, mentioned, 61, 
126, 127, 130, 150, 248 ; lines 
from stanzas on Hood, by, 125 ; 
characterization of, 128—133 5 
poverty of childhood of, 129; 
lines from "The People's Ad- 
vent," by, 131— 132; lines from 
"The Battle Call," by, 132- 



Index 



MASSEY 
133 ; on the solidarity of life, 
134; stanzas on victory that 
seemed to be defeat, by, 209 ; 
the militant poet of the period, 
247; "The Earth for All," 
by, 248} "The Lords of Land 
and Money," by, 249-250 ; 
"A Cry of the Unemployed," 
by, 250—251; "Our Fathers 
are Praying for Pauper-pay," 
by, 252— 253; lines from " Ana- 
thema Maranatha," by, 254; 
lines from "Onward and Sun- 
ward," by, 254; "Song of the 
Red Republican," by, 2 5 4—2 5 5 ; 
"The Awakening," by, 255— 
256; "To-Day and To-Mor- 
row," by, 256—257, 

Mazzini, Giuseppe, mentioned, 
129, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 
148, 150; characterization of, 
I 39—149 ; on great revolutions, 
143 ; on his own poverty and 
suffering in London, 1 44 ; on 
life as a mission, 146-147 ; mail 
of, tampered with by English 
government, 147—148 ; perse- 
cution of, by postal authorities, 
makes him a figure of national 
importance, 149; work of, 
among his poor countrymen in 
London, 149. 

Maurice, Frederic D., mentioned, 
"SSj^S^j 13^51395 character- 
ization of, 134—136; coopera- 
tive associations advocated by, 

135- 
McCarthy, Justin, on gravity of 
political outlook at accession of 
Victoria, 22 ; on Lord Durham's 
work in Canada, 35; on Free 



MORLEY 

Trade propaganda, 85 ; on over- 
whelming sentiment in Parlia- 
ment against Free Trade and 
repeal, 196—197. 

Melbourne cabinet, indifference of, 
toward the poor, 35. 

Melbourne, Lord, confronted by 
grave domestic and foreign diffi- 
culties at accession to office, 22 ; 
assailed by religious fanatics, 29 ; 
conservatism of, 34 ; opposes 
repeal of Corn Laws, 85 ; a 
minister unsuited for a crisis, 
152; refuses to pledge himself 
to alteration of Corn Laws, 152. 

Melbourne ministry, mentioned, 
^5i> 175; growing unpopular- 
ity of, 157 ; postal reforms in- 
troduced during life of, 158. 

Middle Class, becomes a factor in 
government, 55. 

Mines, coal, frightful condition of 
workers in, 38— 40. 

Ministry, Liberal, condones revo- 
lutionary but justifiable actions 
on part of the people, 49-50. 

Monopoly, appetite of, insatiable, 

71- 

Moore, Thomas, satirical verses 
by, on the Corn-Law and anti- 
Papal agitators, 3 i ; mentioned, 
164, 166; stanzas by, predicting 
doom of Corn Laws, 165—166. 

Morley, John, on difference be- 
tween the conflicting class inter- 
ests, 81—82; on conservative 
tendency of the public mind, 
86 ; characterizes Cobden's pos- 
ition on educational agitation, 
102; on the quickening of the 
social spirit in England, 104— 



Index 



MORLEY 
105 5 on the Cambridge riot, 
1565 on lawless and reckless at- 
titude of English press toward 
League, 157; on how Bright 
became interested in Anti-Corn- 
Law conflict, 162-163 5 on ^g" 
gressive work of League leaders, 
163 ; quotes Cobden's words in 
regard to repeal of Corn Laws, 
179—180; on peculiar attitude 
of Parliament, 190. 

N 

Naples, government of, instigates 
English interference with Maz- 
zini's correspondence, 147. 

Newman, Francis, becomes a lib- 
eral, 28. 

Newman, John Henry, heads Ox- 
ford Movement and issues 
"Tract No. 90," 27; becomes 
a reactionary, 28. 

Newport, riots at, 66. 

New Zealand, progressive and 
democratic reforms in, 8. 

Norfolk, Duke of, absurd proposal 
of, to feed the poor on curry tea, 

173-174- 

'*No Popery!" political slogan 
used against Melbourne min- 
istry, 29. - 

Norman Conquest, 68. 

"Now," by Mackay, 236-237. 

O 

O'Brien, James B., 62. 

O'Connell, Daniel, acting with 
Lord Melbourne, 29 ; friendli- 
ness of ministry to, 29 ; names 
People's Charter, 58; men- 
tioned, 86. 



PEEL 

O'Connor, Feargus, 62. 

" Onward and Sunward," by Mas- 
sey, lines from, 254. 

Opposition, seeks to discredit Mel- 
bourne ministry by appeals to 
religious prejudice, 29 ; dis- 
creditable tactics of, 30; stub- 
bornly contests Reform Bill, 5 2, 

"Our Fathers are Praying for 
Pauper-pay," by Massey, 252— 

^53- 
Oxford Movement, inauguration 
of, in 1833, 27; religious up- 
heaval following, 28. 



Palestine, 130. 

Parliament, mentioned, 51,56, 6^, 
84, 98,99, 148, 152, 157, 193, 
209, 225; rejects petition of 
Chartists, 65 ; dominated by 
corn monopolists, 7 3 ; grants 
bounties on importation of 
grain, 73 ; thirty-nine acts of, 
for shooting of partridges, men- 
tioned, 105 ; Tory majority in, 
177 j of I 846, opened by Queen 
in person, 187; compelled to 
yield to public will, 196. 

Paulton, A. W., employed as Anti- 
Corn-Law lecturer, 84 ; men- 
tioned, 86. 

Peel, Sir Robert, employs Wood's 
address to combat League, 153 ; 
discredits ministry by securing 
vote on want of confidence 
motion, 161 ; wavers in his op- 
position to League, 165; en- 
courages League by his reform 
of tariff, 168 5 increased popu- 
larity of, due to Income Tax 



28' 



Index 



PEEL 
and tariff reform measures, 175 ; 
mentioned, 176, 185: admits 
Cobden's argument to be un- 
answerable, 178; becomes an 
unwilling convert to Free Trade 
and repeal, 183; resigns from 
ministry, 186; recalled to form 
new ministry after failure of 
Lord Russell, 186; expresses 
change of convictions, 1875 ar- 
raignment of, by Disraeli, 189 ; 
argues on benefits of Free Trade, 
189; presents bill for repeal, 
190—192; Duke of Welling- 
ton's confidence in, 192; fall 
of ministry of, 193 ; crowning 
glory of career of, 193. 
People, English, manifest indigna- 
tion at course of government, 

53-54- 

Peers, reject Reform Bill, 5 2 ; men- 
tioned, 53 5 urged by King to 
withdraw opposition, 54. 

Peers, Liberal, prospect of increase 
in numbers of, alarms Lords, 

54- 

Phillips, George Searles, on Elliott, 
109. 

Phillips, Wendell, 90. 

Pitt, William, treaty of, between 
English and French, mentioned, 
72. 

"Pleasures of Hope," by Camp- 
bell, mentioned, 167. 

Poor Bill, passage of, arouses in- 
dignation of toilers, 56. 

Poor Law, provisions of, 36—37. 

•< Popery," term of opprobrium 
applied to Catholicism by con- 
servatives, 30. 

Portugal, 172. 



REFORM BILL 

Post, London Morning, attack of, 
on the Manchester school, 157. 

"Press, The," by Elliott, 217- 
218. 

Progress,apostles of, characterized, 
61. 

Prophet, becomes voice of justice, 
60. 

Protestants, utterances of, increase 
religious intolerance, 31. 

Provinces, British North Ameri- 
can, 74. 

Queen, immaturity of, urged by 
Opposition as a menace to Eng- 
land, 29 5 attempt to create im- 
pression that Catholicism is 
favored by, 3 o ; youth of, de- 
plored, by Times, 30; address 
of, before Parliament of 1839, 
152; summons Lord Russell to 
form new ministry, 186 ; opens 
Parliament in person, 187. 

Queen's College for Women, es- 
tablished by Maurice, 135. 

R 

"Railways, The," by Mackay, 
239-240. 

Reform Bill, of 1831—32, reflected 
republican spirit, 1 9 ; mentioned, 
33) 34> 46, 48, 5_^> 169, 186, 
193,197,205; brief history of, 
44-5 5 ;_ provisions of, 54-55 ; 
disappointment of artisans at 
results of, 56; illustration of 
how the democratic ideal may 
be realized in spite of govern- 
mental opposition, 195-196; 
value of educational agitation 



284 



Index 



REFORM BILL 
that preceded passage of, 208. 

Reform Bill agitation, 217. 

Reform Bill Struggle, educational 
influence of, on masses, 32. 

Reign of Terror, mentioned in 
connection with peaceable set- 
tlement of social unrest in Eng- 
land, 21. 

Religion, revolutionary impulses 
present in, 26. 

Republic, falling away from its old 
principles, 7 ; reference to com- 
manding position of our, 2 3— 24 ; 
Bright' s tribute to our, 95—96. 

Revolt, favored by temper of age. 

Revolution, Canadian, 80. 

Revolution, French, influence of, 
for and against progress, 24 ; in- 
fluence of, on English people, 
44—45 ; mentioned, 52, 72, 1 82 ; 
social ideas of, aided Reform 
Bill advocates, 55. 

Richmond, Duke of, proposal of, 
to buy potatoes for poor, 171 — 
172; mentioned, 173. 

Rick-burning, epidemic of, in 
southern England, 46. 

Riviera, Western, 142. 

Romanticism, Mazzini a disciple of, 
141. 

Rome, Church of, mentioned in 
connection with John Henry 
Newman's accession, 28 ; men- 
tioned, 29. 

Rotten boroughs, fifty, abolished 
by passage of Reform Bill, 54. 

Ruskin, John, appreciation of, for 
beauty anticipated by Elliott, 
216. 

Russell, Lord John, conservatism 



SPANISH-AMERICAN STATES 

of, 3 4 J on right of free speech, 
64; declares for repeal, 184; 
summoned to form new min- 
istry, 186. 
Rutland, Duke of, sneers at re- 
formers, 170. 



San Martin becomes, with Bolivar, 

emancipator of Andean states, 

6 j mentioned, 141. 
" Sartor Resartus," written by Car- 

lyle, at Craigenputtoch, 119. 
Savona, Mazzini imprisoned in 

fortress of, 142. 
Science, physical, great advance of, 

26 ; theories of evolution put 

forth in, 26. 
Scotland, shameful conditions in 

collieries of, 38; mentioned, 

116, 126, 155, 
Skarga, revolutionary words of the 

Polish poet, 147. 
Smiles, Samuel, tribute of, to Cob- 
den, 91. 
Socialism, 105. 
Socialism, Christian, principles of, 

promulgated by Maurice, 135; 

mentioned, 138. 
Socialists, 57. 

Somers, R., on Corn Laws, 71. 
"Song of the Red Republican," 

by Massey, 254—255. 
" Song of the Shirt, The," Hood's, 

mentioned, 123, 124. 
" Souls of the Children, The," by 

Mackay, 226-228. 
Southey, Robert, 213. 
Spanish-American states become 

republics under Bolivar and San 

Martin, 6. 

85 



Index 



SPENCER 

Spencer, Herbert, mentioned in 
connection with scientific prog- 
ress of the age, 26. 

St. Paul's Cathedral, 39. 

Statesmanship, difficulties which 
confronted, in the 'forties, 23. 

Statesmen, English, influenced by 
French Revolution, 24. 

Steam, value of, coming to be re- 
alized, 26. 

Stephens, Rev. J. R., an inconsid- 
erate leader of Chartism, 62 j 
arrested, 65. 

Sussex, 172, 173. 

Switzerland, majority rule initiated 
in, 7 J mentioned, 89 ; Mazzini 
takes refuge in, 143, 



"Tailor-Ruled Land, The," by 
Mackey, 260-263. 

Tax, Corn, 169. 

Tax, Income, enacted under Peel 
ministry, 168; passage of, 
strengthens Peel with people, 

175- 

Taylor, Dr. John, 61. 

Thomson's "Seasons," influence 
of, on Elliott, no. 

"The League," later name of 
"Anti-Corn-Law Circular," offi- 
cial organ of the League, 87. 

"Three Preachers, The," by 
Mackay, 232—234. 

Times, London, on Catholic agita- 
tion, 30 ; extract from Carlyle's 
letter, published in, 1 45 ; alarms 
Tories by announcement of 
Peel' s conversion, 185. 

"To-Day and To-Morrow," by 
Massey, 256-257. 



TURKEY 

Tories, attempt of, to excite relig- 
ious prejudice and fanaticism, 
29 ; the objects of sensational 
charge by Grattan, 3 1 ; the 
champions of privilege and 
vested rights, 3 5 5 charge riots 
to reform agitation, 48—49 ; ap- 
peal to King to dissolve Parlia- 
ment, 5 1 ; prevent King from 
increasing number of peers, 5 3 ; 
opposition of, to Anti-Corn- 
Law League, 85 ; mentioned, 
127, 153, 161, 173, 176, 197, 
201 5 strengthened in power; 
owing to good crops, 168, 
growing popularity of, 175 ; ap- 
prehension of, in regard to Peel's 
attitude on Corn Laws, 178; 
consternation among, owing to 
Peel's changed position, 188; 
bitterly resist appeal, 190; de- 
sert their minister, though fav- 
oring his measure, 193. 

Tories, of Glasgow, discredit ru- 
mor of Peel's defection, 185. 

Tory government, illiberal spirit of, 
increases unpopularity of King, 
46; mentioned, 133, 189. 

Tory leaders denounce Peel, 188. 

Tory ministry, resignation of, 48 ; 
mentioned, 5 6 ; refuses to yield 
to Peel, 186. 

Tory press, denounces reforms, 
48; mentioned, 83 ; denies re- 
port of potato rot, 182. 

Tracts, England deluged with, by 
League, 87. 

Transcendentalism, German, influ- 
ence of, on English thought, 
27. 

Turkey, 89. 



286 



Index 



TYNDALL 
Tyndall, John, mentioned in con- 
nection with scientific progress 
of the age, 26. 

U 

Union, of Birmingham, mention- 
ed, 49 j prepares to march 200,- 
000 men to Hampstead Heath, 

54- 

Unions, political, aggressive bodits 
for bettering condition of the 
poor, 49 ; determine to resort 
to unconstitutional methods if 
necessary to secure passage of 
Reform Bill, 5 i. 

United States, influence of example 
of, in Europe, 6. 

V 

Victoria, Queen, interest and prac- 
tical value of first ten years of 
reign of, 195 accepted spirit as 
well as letter of democratic de- 
mand, 20 j reign of, compared 
with that of Louis XVI. and 
Marie Antoinette, 20-21 ; early 
years of reign of, marked by 
Anti-Corn-Law and anti-Papal 
agitation, 31; mentioned, 35, 
73, 150, 157; popular discon- 
tent at opening of reign of, 36 ; 
distress of poor at opening of 
reign of, 38 ; accession of, 
marked by no favorable change 
in ministry, 56-57; fluctuation 
in price of corn at accession of, 
75 j lines from Elliott's ode to, 
80 ; reference to reign of, 
195. 

Victorian age, mentioned, 20; first 
decades of, a transition period. 



WELSH 

21 ; characterized by spirit of 
democracy, 44. 

Victorian authors, Elizabeth Bar- 
rett's place among, 122. 

Victorian era, 1 24. 

*' Village Patriarch, The," Elliott's 
principal poem, mentioned, 112; 
lines from, 214. 

Villiers, Hon. Charles Pelham, a 
disinterested opponent of the 
Corn Laws, 80 ; mentioned, 86 ; 
reopens the Corn-Law discus- 
sion in the House of Commons, 

153- 
Vincent, Henry, 62. 
"Voice of the Time, The," by 

Mackay, 234-235. 
"Voices from the Crowd," by 

Mackay, mentioned, 228. 

W 

Wagner, Richard, 129. 

Wales, shameful condition in col- 
lieries of, 38. 

Wallace, Alfred Russell, men- 
tioned in connection with scien- 
tific progress of the age, 26. 

"Wants of the People, The," by 
Mackay, 230-231. 

War, Cobden's views of, 89. 

Ward, May Alden, on Carlyle, 
ii6. 

Washington, George, faith of, in 
the people, 6 ; mentioned, 109, 
141. 

"Watcher on the Tower, The," 
by Mackay, 241-242. 

Welsh, Jenny, introduced to Car- 
lyle, 119. 

Welsh, Mrs., introduced to Car- 
lyle, 119. 



287 



Index 



WELLINGTON 

Wellington, Duke of, attempt of, 
to destroy freedom of the press, 
32 ; leads Tory government, 
46 ; retained at head of cabinet 
by new King, 47 ; attempts to 
form Conservative cabinet, 53 ; 
finds army not to be relied upon 
to coerce Englishmen, 54 ; fails 
to form ministry, 545 with one 
hundred lords, withdraws from 
chamber that Reform Bill may 
be passed, 54; mentioned, 56, 
185; champions repeal, 193. 

Whig members assail reactionary 
policy of government, 46. 

Whig papers, unfriendly attitude 
of, toward Anti-Corn-Law 
League, 85. 

Whig party, disappoints progress- 
ive Englishmen by "do-noth- 
ing" policy, 3 3 ; mentioned, 47. 

Whigs, mentioned, 35, 56, 79, 
153, 161, 201. 

Whittier, J. G., 90. 

William IV., reign of, character- 
ized by personal rather than 
constituiional rule, 20 ; general 
discontent toward end of reign 



"YOUNG Italy" 
of, 36 ; lawless demonstration 
by poor at time of accession of, 
47 ; resents dictation by Tories, 
5 1 ; death of, in i 8 3 7, 56 ; men- 
tioned, 157. 

William and Mary, Corn Laws in 
reign of, 71—72. 

Wilson, George, chairman of 
League, 87; mentioned, 100. 

Women, condition of, in mines of 
Great Britain, 39—40. 

Wood, Mr., of Manchester, sec- 
onds Queen's address, 152. 

Workingmen, general discontent 
of, at opening of Victoria's 
reign, 57. ^ 

Workingmen' s Associations, de- 
scription of, 57. 

Workingmen' S'College, established 
by Maurice, 135. 

Worksop, League lecturer brutally 
assaulted at, 156. 



"Yeast," Kingsley's first novel, 

mentioned, 136. 
"Young Italy," founded by Maz- 

zini, 142; mentioned, 143. 



288 



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